Mancini admits interest in Serie A stars; Inter and Milan to battle for Santos wonderkid

Mancini admits interest in Serie A stars

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini revealed that he was interested in signing Javier Pastore and Edison Cavani.

The Citizens have been linked with the Serie A stars in January and reportedly even made enquires for the pair before the transfer window closed.

Speaking after the City’s draw with Aris last night, Mancini confirmed interest in Pastore and Cavani.

“Maurizio Zamparini, the President of Palermo, said that he got a phone call from a team manager at City for Pastore, but that he didn’t speak English.

“This means that I wasn’t on the phone, otherwise I would have spoken to him in Italian.

“City are interested in good players and Pastore is good like Cavani and many others,” Mancini said.

The Citizens are still a couple of players short of the squad capable of fighting for honours and proposed capture of Pastore and Cavani would definitely take them to a whole new level.

Inter and Milan to battle for Santos wonderkid

Santos midfielder Paulo Henrique Ganso is adamant he will join one of the Milan clubs next summer despite interest from a number of English top sides.

Even though there has been no agreement yet, the 21-year-old has instructed his agent to engineer a move to either Inter or Milan at the end of the season.

“Next year I will play in Milan,” Ganso told Il Corriere dello Sport.

“Leonardo often calls me because he wants me at Inter. Leo is a wonderful person. He was a great player and is doing great things as a coach.

“Inter are a great club and everyone wants to play for them. It has a fantastic squad.

“My agents have told me there is also interest from the Rossoneri. I’m also happy because Milan is a great club, but I do not want to talk about the market out of respect to Santos fans.”

Ganso has missed out a big part of the season through injury but is still considered as one of the hottest prospects in Brazil, and he could be a subject of a real bidding war between Inter and Milan.

Pepe to sign a new deal

Despite the recent reports suggesting that contract talks have broken down, Real Madrid defender Pepe is expected to sign a new deal at Santiago Bernabeu, according to AS.

Pepe is one of the lowest earners at Real and he wanted a significant pay rise but it looked as though an agreement would collapse as los Merengues were not willing to offer more than €3.5 million per year.

However, it seems that the clubs chiefs have changed their minds after being informed by Jose Mourinho that Pepe was an indispensable member of the side.

According to latest reports, the player has agreed to sign a new deal until 2015, worth €3.8 million per season, with the official announcement expected by the end of the week.

Pepe has only recently returned from injury but slotted right into the starting line-up, and Jose Mourinho will certainly be happy to keep hold of his prized asset.

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