Manchester City reportedly close to signing Eliaquim Mangala

If both Duncan Castles and Gianluca Di Marzio are to be believed, Manchester City are on the verge of signing central defender Eliaquim Mangala from FC Porto, and he could have a medical as soon as this weekend. Castles is reporting that Mangala has decided to sign for the Citizens and that they will pay Porto £31.8m for his services.

Mangala was always going to make a big money move and City need a central defender. This is a good move for Mangala because he's going to slot right into a starting spot, and alongside a fellow world class defender in Vincent Kompany. The departure of Joleon Lescott, the general oldness of Martin Demichelis and the injury issues that Matija Nastasic dealt with last year mean that he'll come into preseason training presumed as first choice.

Manchester City are under financial fair play sanctions and have already added Bacary Sagna, Willy Caballero and Fernando during this transfer window. Obviously, they make enough money that they can still buy some players and comply with FFP, but they're probably coming right up against the amount they can spend and still break even. They can offset some of their hit by selling Jack Rodwell, and perhaps one of their forwards, but this is still a big financial commitment for a team that's going to be in a lot of trouble if they spend too much money.

And it's unlikely that Mangala is coming cheap, for a couple of reasons. One, he's seriously in demand and would be a great pickup for Chelsea, Manchester United or Barcelona. Two, he's said in the past that he prefers London to Manchester if he moves to England, and that he considers United to be "of a greater status" than City. So if he's agreed to sign for the Citizens, they're probably paying him a lot of money.