Both top-flight rivals are desperate to land the classy central defender.
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Premier League giants Manchester City and Manchester United will both go head to head for the signature of highly rated Benfica defender Ezequiel Garay when the winter transfer window opens again for business in the new year, according to reports in the Sunday Mirror.
The experienced Argentina international has been closely monitored by the Premier League champions for some time, but now it is understood that new City head coach Manuel Pellegrini wants to bring the centre back to Eastlands at the turn of the year.
The experienced Chilean sent his scouts out to the Portuguese capital of late, and received back glowing reports on Garay, and with City currently struggling badly for numbers at the back in the north west, Pellegrini has now decided to make a move for the Argentinian.
And the Blues are also said to have been encouraged by the fact that Garay has consistently refused to put pen to paper on a new contract at the Stadium of Light and so with the central defender’s current deal with the Portuguese champions now set to expire in June 2015, his employers may be interested in offloading their star man in January, rather than risk losing him on a free in 18 months’ time.