City Prepares £24m for De Rossi

De Rossi

ROBERTO MANCINI’S rant at the Manchester City board looks set to land him his dream player, Daniele De Rossi.

Mancini had been desperate to sign the Roma playmaker last summer and in the January transfer window.

But the money men at City refused to sanction the deal and De Rossi signed a new contract with the Serie A side in February, which ties him to the club until 2017.

Frustrated at a lack of signings this summer, Mancini has been pestering football director Brian Marwood to back his move for the 29-year-old. Mancini now seems to have got his way with City ready to pay just under £24m for Di Rossi.

So Roberto Mancini, as strange as it might sound given the size and quality of his Etihad Stadium squad, is unhappy at the lack of new signings made this summer and now the Premier League title holders are set to do something about that by signing Italian midfielder Daniele De Rossi.

The impressive box to box performer is tough in the tackle, a great distributor and a player with an eye for goal, one thing though, where exactly will the Roma man fit into the Man City starting eleven?

Last term Nigel De Jong was frozen out of first team affairs after Mancini opted to field a more attack minded line-up, believing, rightly, that playing the Dutch enforcer AND Gareth Barry was a bit to sterile a combination. But where will De Rossi fit in?

Presumably Barry and midfielder Yaya Toure are regulars that Mancini will not force out, so how can De Rossi be included into a line up that also tends to use David Silva in a floating advanced role.

29 year old De Rossi is a one club man who has been a regular at the Stadio Olimpico for eight seasons, racking up a total of 389 appearances for his hometown side, how will he take to having to fight for a first team slot?