Manchester City set to sign R600-million man Otamendi
MANCHESTERCity are close to signing Valencia defender Nicolas Otamendi for around £30m (R600m), with the Argentine potentially joining the club by the end of the week.
The 27-year-old was left out of the Valencia squad which played Monaco in the Champions League qualifier last night. If he were to play, and Valencia qualified for the group stage, he would be ineligible to play for City in the competition.
Otamendi would be City’s fourth major signing of the summer here after Raheem Sterling, Fabian Delph and Patrick Roberts for around £65m (R1.3-bn).
The expectation is still that Kevin de Bruyne will also arrive for more than £40m (R80m).
The Valencia coach, Nuno Espirito Santo, said: “Once everything is resolved, we will make decisions and the club will announce everything. For a few days now we have prepared for this game without the option of using Otamendi.”
The deal is expected to be a straight fee payment even though the Premier League club are still owed money on the agreement that took Alvaro Negredo to Valencia last summer. The Spanish club are obliged to pay £24m (R48m) to make the deal permanent, which they have not yet done, but that is being treated as a separate case. Neither is there any prospect of defender Eliaquim Mangala going on loan as part of the deal.
Chelsea’s attempt to sign John Stones from Everton has not moved any further with the rejection of a third bid, this time of £30m (R600m), for a player the champions have chased for most of the summer. Everton have been clear so far that there is no prospect of them selling Stones in this window.
It would now take a fee of closer to £40m (R800m) to sign the 21-year-old and, given the small increases that Chelsea have made previously, it seems that the club are not entirely convinced that they should be paying that level of fee.
Meanwhile, new Chelsea left back Baba Rahman, 21, had his first training session at the club’s Cobham base yesterday. – The Independent