Manchester City close on in Fiorentina's Jovetic

Stevan Jovetic of Fiorentina celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Serie A match between against Bologna FC at Stadio Artemio Franchi on October 7, 2012 in Florence, Italy. The striker is believed to be on the verge of a move to England. (Getty Images)

Manuel Pellegrini’s pursuit of a much-needed goalscorer looks set to come to an end as Manchester City appear to be closing on on the €41 million signing Fiorentina’s Steven Jovetic.

Fiorentina have already found a replacement in Mario Gomez for the Montenegro international, having signed the German striker from Bayern Munich for €20 million.

City are currently on a tour in South Africa, and having lost their opening game to Supersport United in Pretoria, Pellegrini is aware that the team is lacking its much needed firepower.

“It’s difficult to say a date, but before July finishes I think we will have more players,” said Pellegrini after the defeat. “We are not in a hurry to bring them in now but we are clear that we need two or three more players. I said before we came to South Africa that we needed to play for each position and I’m sure that we will have it.”

Striker Alvaro Negredo has also been linked with City in recent weeks, but Sevilla President Jose Maria del Nido made it clear that there is only a ‘one percent’ chance with City going through with this deal.

“We are far from reaching a deal with City,” explained del Nido. “Right now they are further away than where we were at [in negotiations] with Atletico Madrid. There have been advances, but we are still far from a deal. Either they pay what we ask, or the player stays with Sevilla for another three years.”

“The chance that he goes right now is one per cent. In the last 15 days I have lowered the price by €0, I’m very generous. The substitute for Negredo is Negredo. For me the best thing is that he renews his deal for another two years and raises his clause.”

Source: Daily Mail