Roberto Mancini is looking to bring Barcelona star Pedro to the Etihad Stadium
Roberto Mancini is looking to bring Barcelona star Pedro to the Etihad Stadium.
A move for the Spanish winger is more likely to happen in the summer, but City scouts have been sent to watch the 24-year-old in action several times this season, with a buy-out clause in the star’s contract of €150m unlikely to put off the mega-rich Premier League pace-setters.
City wouldn’t pay that amount of course, but they are preparing a summer bid of around £35m for a winger who would join up with fellow Spain star David Silva in the north-west of England.
A product of the famous Barca youth system, Pedro burst onto the scene in the 2009/10 season during which he scored 23 goals and eventually became a key member of the Spain team which won the 2010 World Cup in South Africa – where he displaced Fernando Torres in the starting line-up.
He carried on that good form into last season, where the opening goal in Barca’s Champions League final victory over Manchester United at Wembley was one of 22 for the campaign. He scored his 50th goal for the club during this season.
City boss Mancini is known to be frustrated with the at times erratic form of his winger Adam Johnson, and with a host of clubs believed to be interested in signing the England man in the summer the Italian is set to be ready to trade up and bring in the 15-times capped Spaniard.
Pedro has four-and-a-half years left on a Barca contract he only extended last summer, but the offer of City’s millions could tempt him into a move to England, where he would be tipped to shine alongside Silva and fellow La Liga import Sergio Aguero.
