Mega-rich top-flight side are in urgent need of more bodies at the back at Eastlands this season.
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Liga outfit Atletico de Madrid have told Manchester City that experienced defender Martin Demichelis will cost them £4.26 million to buy this summer, according to reports in the Guardian.
The big-spending Premier League club are currently in the midst of a major defensive crisis at Eastlands following a raft of recent injuries at the back.
Captain Vincent Kompany damaged his groin in Monday night’s 4-0 win over Newcastle United at Eastlands in what was new head coach Manuel Pellegrini’s first competitive match in charge of the north-west club, with the key Belgium international now expected to be out of action for as long as four weeks.
And the Chilean is also having to cope at present without right-back Micah Richards, who will be missing for the next month with a hamstring injury, while first-choice centre-back Matija Nastasic himself only returned to training on Wednesday after damaging his ankle during preseason.
All of which has forced Pellegrini back into the summer transfer market in order to find some defensive cover before the window shuts on Sept 2, although his number one target of Pepe is now no longer available after his club Real Madrid took the Portuguese off the market.
That leaves experienced Atletico central defender Demichelis then as City’s next target, although the club are understood to be reluctant to pay more than 3m euros for a 32-year-old who only moved to the Spanish capital earlier this summer on a free from Malaga, although they may have no other option than meeting the Spaniards’ asking price.