Man City Set Sights On £12m Sporting Lisbon Captain
By Chris Wright
What with Manchester City currently being sh*tted up with over-paid, under-played footballers of every conceivable ilk, it’s fairly understandable that most of the recent City-related transfer gubbins is in reference to an imminent exodus or clear-out of some kind.
That said, the Daily Mail are bucking the trend this morning by actually linking Roberto Mancini‘s side with an actual acquisition, albeit not a very high-profile one.
The Mail seem certain that City have ‘opened talks’ with Sporting Lisbon over their £12-million rated captain, 22-year-old centre-back Daniel Carrico – a player that the Premier League side have apparently been watching extensively for over a year now.
The paper also speculate that Mancini and co. officially turned their sights on Carrico after baulking at the £25 million price tag they were quoted by Benfica for their ridiculously over-valued Brazilian defender David Luiz.
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People in Portugal say Benfica refused a final 25£ bid for Luiz in the summer, which allegedly made him angry given that Di María went for 20£ and Ramires for 18£ and were seen to play a much bigger role in the side. Given his recent performances, they’ll be kicking themselves not to have bitten CIty’s arm off.
Actually, David Luiz said he refused to go to City. He refused to leave Benfica, as his preference would fall upon Chelsea, not the ‘petrodollars’. And actually, Di Maria was for a bit more than 20 M£ and that value could go above 30 M£ (up to 36 M€), depending on appearences.
As for Daniel Carrico, although he is very important piece in Sporting’s squad (he is a good defender), they may just sell him for this price or lower (they sold two of their best players this season for under 10 M£ each – Moutinho and Veloso, both Portuguese internationals). City could indeed benefit as he seems a low profile defender but with already good skills.
Carriço – poor man’s David Luiz.