£1M A MATCH ...MAN, THAT IS EXPENSIVE

ELIAQUIM MANGALA will leave Manchester City for free at the end of the season – after costing the champions-elect almost £1million for EACH Premier League appearance.

City have paid out a staggering £56m in transfer fees and wages for the France defender (above), who arrived from Porto four years ago.

He has played in just 57 top-flight games for the Blues and that includes six coming on as a substitute.

City paid £43.5m for Mangala in the summer of 2014. Almost 40 per cent of that money went to two companies who held an economic stake in the player. And the 27-year-old centre back has also banked wages of just under £12.5m from City in a disastrous fourseason stay that will end with him having made just 79 appearances.

City’s outlay would have been even more had they not managed to send Mangala on loan to Valencia and Everton.

When he spent the 2016-17 season in Spain, half of his basic £80,000a-week wage was paid by Valencia. And Everton met his salary in full when he moved to Goodison on loan in January.

But the centre-back damaged knee ligaments in only his second game, went off before half-time, and was ruled out for the rest of this season. Mangala becomes a free agent this summer when his City contract ends.

Inter Milan are interested and Valencia are in the frame again after deciding the numbers didn’t add up when City offered Mangala for just £15m last summer.

The Spanish club feared that paying the asking price and meeting Mangala’s wage demands would see them fall foul of Financial Fair Play Regulations – even though City were willing to subsidise the salary.

A few weeks later, Mangala ensured City would not recoup any cash on him at all when he rejected the chance to join Crystal Palace in a £23m deadline-day deal.