Manchester City are still interested in Fernando Gago
City are likely to make a fresh move for Fernando Gago in the summer, the manager, Roberto Mancini, has confirmed. The club insisted it would have signed the 23-year-old defensive midfielder had Real Madrid not waited until the afternoon of transfer deadline day to lower their €25m (£22m) asking price.
“Gago is a good player for Real Madrid, a fantastic player and we may move for him again in the summer,” Mancini said yesterday. “There is a possibility to take him then.” Mancini said that because City felt Gago was overpriced, they tried to take the Kenyan midfielder McDonald Mariga from Parma; a move which collapsed due to work permit issues on Monday.
“We wanted Mariga and for me the situation is incredible because he has played in Europe for seven years,” said Mancini. “I don’t understand the decision, I don’t know why the application was refused but he has gone to Internazionale now so there is no possibility of a deal.”
City made just one permanent transfer in the January transfer window, the England Under-21 midfielder Adam Johnson, signed from Middlesbrough on a four-and-a-half-year contract. Mancini said that his display for Boro against City in the FA Cup last month convinced him to make a £7m offer. It was one Johnson, a graduate of the Middlesbrough academy that produced Stewart Downing, was unable to refuse.
Read more: The Guardian
