Jerome Boateng Manchester City are refusing to be held to ransom by wantaway stars Emmanuel Adebayor and Jerome Boateng.
And if that means the two players remaining at the Blues when the transfer window shuts, then the Blues are willing to live with it.
Boateng announced yesterday that he has negotiated a four-year deal to join Bayern Munich after an injury-hit and uncomfortable debut season at Eastlands.
That came as news to Bayern, who deny they have spoken to the player or his representatives.
City have not given Bayern permission to speak to Boateng.
The problem is that Bayern’s £10million offer for the player is less than half of what City want for him.
Manager Roberto Mancini believes the 22-year-old defender will one day be one of the world’s top defenders, but will let him go as the player is clearly unhappy at City.
But the Blues, who paid £11.5m to Hamburg for the Germany international a year ago, feel he is worth much more.
The transfer of Phil Jones from Blackburn to United is a marker in the current transfer market, City believe.
The Reds paid £16.5m for an under-21 international, while Bayern are offering two-thirds of that for a player who reached the World Cup semi-finals with Germany last summer.
Boateng, who missed the first six weeks and the last two months of the season with injury, accused City of being awkward over the proposed deal.
“It is true that I have agreed with Bayern on a four-year deal, now it is up to Manchester to make it work,” said Boateng.. “At the moment they are making things a bit difficult.
“My dream is to have a starting spot within a year, hopefully at Bayern, and then I want to win the European championship with Germany.
Boateng’s unhappiness at City stems from the fact that he prefers to play in a central defensive position, whereas Mancini has seen him principally as a right-back.
Even in that position he has become second, and possibly third choice, behind Micah Richards and Pablo Zabaleta.
Ironically, Boateng feels Mancini’s insistence in playing him at full back is damaging his international career – even though he starred for Germany at left and right-back in South Africa last year!
“It is about the position,” he said. “Bayern want me as a central defender and that is also an advantage for the national team.”
Adebayor’s future is also very unclear, with Real Madrid not budging from their £5m valuation, and happy for their option on him, which ran until this week, to expire.
Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has urged coach Jose Mourinho to do his best to keep the Togolese star, who scored six goals in his loan spell at the Bernabeu in the latter half of last season.
“I would keep him,” said Ronaldo. “He is a very good footballer, but an even better team-mate. He is also very important in the dressing room. He’s like Marcelo, he transmits a lot of joy and positive energy.”
Tottenham and AC Milan are among teams looking at Adebayor, but City have told his representatives they will refuse any offers that do not come close to their valuation of the player, which is around £15m.
City officials have been meeting with their Udinese counterparts over the last two days in a bid to agree a deal over the Italian club’s Chilean winger Alexis Sanchez.
The Blues are still being cited as favourites to land the 22-year-old, with reports from Italy suggesting their inclusion of £4.4m-rated Vladimir Weiss – on top of £29m cash – has so far not been matched by rivals Barcelona, Inter Milan and Juventus.
Udinese owner Giampolo Pozzo has also suggested that United have re-entered the bidding for the player, who is said to have told his representatives that he would prefer a move to Barca or United.
Sanchez’s agent said his client’s future was still up in the air: “An agreement with Manchester City? Sanchez’s future is still wide open,” he said. “We’re working on it, after meetings with City, today we will have new appointments.”
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