New City boss Manuel Pellegrini was anxious to buy a centre-back even before losing Matija Nastasic for the first month of the new campaign with an ankle injury and then seeing his side concede eight goals in their last three pre-season games.
Pepe has always been Pellegrini’s first-choice but Real rejected a £15m offer for the Portugal international last month and insist they want him to stay at the Bernabeu.
One last bid: Manchester City are making a final move to lure Pepe to the Etihad
Concern: Manuel Pellegrini is worried about a lack of defensive options after the injury to Matija Nastasic
City are set to mount another bid before they kick off the new season at home to Newcastle on Monday and hope that an improved offer in excess of £20m for a player who turned 30 in February may convince Real to change their mind.
Reports in Spain claimed that City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain has flown to Madrid to try and broker a deal. However, if the Spaniards refuse to negotiate then he will accept defeat and look elsewhere.
Despite spending £90million on new players this summer, City have not signed any defenders.
They have been linked with Atletico Madrid’s Martin Demichelis and Schalke defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos among others, and have so far expressed little interest in the possibility of bringing in Paolo Cannavaro from Napoli.
Missing: Nastasic will miss the first month of the season
But after Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to Arsenal in Helsinki, Pellegrini said: ‘We’ll see next week if I can bring in the player I need. We have conceded too many goals and we will have to find ways to fix that.
City’s Scott Sinclair is expected to decide which club he will be joining before the end of the week.
Former Swansea winger Sinclair, 24, has attracted interest from West Brom in particular, plus Everton and Newcastle. Bookmakers cut the odds on him joining former Swans manager Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool yesterday after Stewart Downing left Anfield for West Ham.
City striker Alex Nimely, 22, is training with Doncaster Rovers ahead of a possible deal.
Improved offer: City have already had a £15m offer rejected and will look to offer in excess of £20m this time
More…
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