The Blues have been tracking Cahill for months, and are considering a £17m deal which could include Nedum Onuoha heading in the other direction.
But current City ace Vincent Kompany has urged manager Roberto Mancini to reconsider his Belgium defensive partner Jan Vertonghen, who was apparently discarded as a target last month after being scouted by Mancini when he played for his club Ajax.
City have cooled on the idea of buying a central defender after Kolo Toure escaped a major ban for his positive drugs test – he will now be available to play on September 2, before the Blues’ Champions League
campaign gets underway.
That has seen them back away from a move for Cahill, who has a £17m release clause in his contract at the Reebok.
But with Bayern Munich preparing to up a proposed £11m bid for Jerome Boateng and Onuoha ready for a move away from Eastlands with his first-team chances restricted, the deal could be back on.
Watched
Mancini watched 24-year-old, 6ft 2in Vertonghen play for Ajax in the Dutch Cup final last month, but was not hugely impressed.
But Vertonghen, who is left-footed, has played alongside Kompany for Belgium – although he turned out at left- back for them in the Euro 2012 qualifier 1-1 draw with Turkey on Friday.
Vertonghen, like Cahill, has also been carefully watched by Arsenal, while AC Milan are also believed to be weighing up a move for him this summer.
Kompany has suggested that his international teammate is ready to step up to the Premier League, and indicated he would be a boost for City.
“You hear 40 names per month of players who could move to Manchester City,” said Kompany. “However, it is not a coincidence that Vertonghen is linked with the club.
“Jan is ready to make the next step and is good enough for City.
“I am sure that he will succeed at his next club, regardless of whether he joins us or decides to move elsewhere. He is simply a fantastic footballer.
“He can play left-back, centre back and as a defensive midfielder – in that position he has played many good games for us and he has the potential to be one of the leaders of the Belgian team of the future.”
The Blues have also weighed up Blackburn’s 19-year-old defender Phil Jones and will watch him again playing for England under-21s at the
European Championships in Denmark next week.
It has emerged that Jones has a £16m release clause in his Blackburn contract, but he is also being tracked by Liverpool, United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham.
Move
City are now pressing ahead with their summer transfer plans as it is becoming clear that Carlos Tevez will be unable to engineer a move away from the club this summer.
The Argentine ace has expressed his unhappiness with living in Manchester, and a reported reconciliation with the estranged mother of his two daughters has opened up the possibility that she could be persuaded to join him if he secured a move to Spain or Italy.
But City would require a minimum £40m for their top- scorer, and Tevez would have to take a major pay cut from his £230,000-a-week deal at Eastlands – and those two factors have seemingly killed interest from Inter Milan, Juventus and Real Madrid.
There was another twist to the plot when Buenos Aires politician, and former Boca Juniors president Mauricio Macri, claimed Tevez had told him he would be back to play for the club in 2013.
That indicates Tevez may be prepared to see out the next two seasons, make his fortune and then return to his homeland.
The Blues have already had one transfer setback – top target Alexis Sanchez of Udinese is on his way to Barcelona.
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