Mancini reveals City's plan to launch huge Torres bid

Liverpool striker is singled out in extraordinary admission that club will target four major summer signings

(GETTY IMAGES)

Roberto Mancini served notice yesterday that Manchester City have the spending power to succeed where others may fail in attempting to prise Fernando Torres away from Liverpool.

City had indications as far back as last autumn that securing the 26-year-old's services might be possible if Liverpool's season did not improve and Mancini acknowledged for the first time his desire to sign him yesterday, outlining a need to spend on "three or four" major stars this summer rather than "normal" players, as he put it. With Tottenham favourites to clinch the fourth Champions League spot, the Italian also outlined what appeared to be a provisional pitch to prospective players put off by the prospect of Europa League football next season: that the Premier League is a title City can realistically expect to win next season and a bigger priority to them than the far more remote prospect of actually winning the Champions League.

Liverpool's dire display as they lost 1-0 to Torres' old club Atletico Madrid last night was not an encouraging sign for the future, though it does place Rafael Benitez's side in a strong position to reach next month's final. Fulham also have grounds for optimism after a goalless draw in Hamburg. "Torres is happy with us. Now he has to get back to full fitness," Benitez said in response to Mancini last night. "I'm confident he will stay with us and score lots of goals."

Though Mancini accepts that it will be "difficult" to talk Torres into joining City if they are playing Europa League football next season, he acknowledged it was an advantage that City had money. "Probably," Mancini said. "I think we must buy a top player. We must make sure we don't spend too much on normal [average] players but if there is the possibility to spend the money on top players, young players who can help us build a future, I think it is OK [to spend big]. I don't like to waste money because I have respect for the club and the owners but if we need a player [we will spend.] Fernando is a fantastic striker and I think all the top teams in Europe are interested in him."

For the City manager to be openly discussing the player is extraordinary and, similar to his predecessor Mark Hughes declaring his appreciation of Carlos Tevez and John Terry as part of the quest to sign them both last season, it was an open message to the 26-year-old, currently recovering from knee surgery which has ended his domestic season, that City are prepared to go to great lengths to sign a player likely to cost at least £60m.

"For me, he [Torres] is with Carlos [Tevez], [Wayne] Rooney, [Lionel] Messi, [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, [Cristiano] Ronaldo, the best in Europe."

While the initial proclamation that Torres was a City target, made 18 months ago by Sulaiman al-Fahim, who was briefly the front man for Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, seemed far-fetched, City's elevation above Liverpool has changed everything. While Torres has sought to apply pressure on his club's owners to spend on "two or three more players", as he put it three weeks ago, Mancini was able to declare with confidence yesterday that City will seek to buy possibly four significant names this summer.

"If we want to win the Premier League ahead of Chelsea and Manchester United I think we must sign some important players," he said. "Every year the club has improved and we want to do the same again. Sometimes you don't have to buy 15 players and you can buy three or four important players."

Mancini said Benfica's Angel di Maria has caught his eye and City are also eager to have a deal agreed to sign the 21-year-old German phenomenon Mesut Ozil before the World Cup finals as competition heats up in English football for the player considered to be one of the major catches of the summer transfer window. City are understood to have had preliminary talks with Werder Bremen about the German national of Turkish descent who they regard as the ideal player to fill their left-sided role next season, with Martin Petrov and Craig Bellamy likely to leave.

The concern for City will be that Torres does not use them as a way of drawing a better offer from elsewhere in Europe. A host of other clubs – including both Barcelona and Inter – are likely to be interested if Torres is ready to move.

The Torres situation is rendered more fluid by the uncertainty surrounding Rafael Benitez's future, while Mancini's future seems more secure. New details emerged yesterday of the lengths that Benitez's agent Manuel Garcia Quillon has gone to, to have a detailed agreement in place with Juventus should he or Liverpool decide his future lies elsewhere this summer and these add to the insecurity the player will feel, though Mancini feels that could work for or against his club. "I think if Benitez goes to Juventus, Benitez will get one, two or three players of his own," he said. City are close to completing an £11m deal to bring the Hamburg defender Jerome Boateng to the club.