Manchester City have been slow starters in the transfer market this season, missing out on several players as they sought to strengthen the Championship winning side of last season.
It seemed as though Everton’s Jack Rodwell would be manager Roberto Mancini’s only signing of the summer as City’s money men kept a tight rein on the purse strings with an eye on UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules but injuries to Micah Richards and Sergio Aguero have complicated matters.
With few players set to leave, the odds of a marquee signing have been slim until this week when a deal to sell Emmanuel Adebayor was reached with Spurs.
Now the rumour mill is ablaze with talk of Inter’s Maicon, 31, arriving to provide backup for the ever-reliable Pablo Zabaleta at right back.
Benfica’s defender Javi Garcia may follow after the likes of Daniel Agger and Daniele De Rossi pledged their futures to their clubs Liverpool and Roma respectively and main target Javi Martinez opted to move to Bayern Munich from Athletic Club Bilbao. If, as rumoured, Nigel de Jong moves to AC Milan then a move for a defensive player could become even more important.
An uncertain start to the season for youngster Stefan Savic could see him used as makeweight in a deal to bring in Fiorentina’s Serbian defender Matija Nastasic who at 19 years old is even younger than the Montenegrin defender who hasn’t adapted well to the rigours of the Barclays Premier League.
In the meantime, Scott Sinclair seems set to sign from Swansea for a fee of £6.2m after late City interest in Arsenal’s Theo Walcott prompted the Swans to conclude their own negotiations quickly and Sinclair could replace the recently departed Adam Johnson in the squad as an impact winger.
Only a day remains of the summer transfer window, and Mancini will want to make the most of it.