Nicolas Otamendi is close to joining Manchester City after a deal was agreed for the Argentinian for a fee in the region of £31.7 million.
Sky Sports sources were reporting yesterday that the South American is currently in Manchester undergoing a medical, but confirmation is still needed from both parties. The likelihood of striking a deal for the defender is made stronger after he was left out of Valencia’s squad for their latest game. He joined the Spanish outfit from Porto in 2014.
Otamendi has been refusing to play or train for Valencia in recent days in an effort to force through a move to City, and Pellegrini was quoted as saying after the 3-0 victory over Chelsea on Sunday: “I cannot confirm anything and I don’t talk about rumours.”
It is believed that he will sign a five-year deal with City if the deal is completed, but he would more than likely have to fight for his place with the recent good form of both Vincent Kompany and Eliaqium Mangala; the latter of which was rumoured to be included in this deal himself, but is keen to prove himself at City after a difficult start to life last term.
Sky Sports’ Spanish football expert Guillem Balague had this to say about the deal: “There was a leak from Spain on Friday that a deal had been agreed at 40 million Euros and a loan deal for Mangala.”
“But by the time City had beatenChelsea on Sunday, Valencia learned that Mangala did not want to go to Valencia, or go out on loan, so that meant they had to find another figure andreach another agreement.”
“Valencia said that Otamendi has a 50 million Euro buy-out clause, but they managed to find common ground at 45 million Euros and there are no loan arrangements and it has no relation,either, to any money owed for Alvaro Negredo.”
If Otamendi were to sign, which loks very likely, then he will become City’s fifth major signing of the summer, with Raheem Sterling, Fabian Delph and youngsters Patrick Roberts and Enas Unal already linking up with us. Otamendi has 25 caps for Argentina, claiming the one goal. His current deal at Valencia runs out in 2019 but a move to City this summer seems very much on the cards.
With the Argentinian so close to joining, what do you make of the defender? Would he be a good player to invest in? Or would he limit the chances of younger defenders such as Eliaquim Mangala and Jason Denayer? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section, or tweet
us @ReadManCity.
