City reject Milan Dzeko link

With City looking set to lodge a bid for Arsenal's Robin van Persie, it would appear manager Roberto Mancini has too many forwards at his disposal. And, following Zlatan Ibrahimovic's big-money move to Paris St Germain, AC Milan are in the hunt for a new striker.

The link, which has also been made to Manchester United forward Dimitar Berbatov, is an obvious one. And an agent claiming to be acting on behalf of Dzeko has stated that a deal to join Milan had a "70 per cent" chance of going through. But this is news to City, who have never heard of Sead Susic and have not asked anyone to negotiate Dzeko's transfer on their behalf.

"The club have no knowledge of the so-called spokesman Mr Susic, nor has it given a mandate to any third party to discuss the transfer of Edin Dzeko, who remains a Manchester City player," said a City spokesman.

Dzeko is presently with City on their short tour of Austria and featured in Tuesday night's goalless draw with Dynamo Dresden.

Speculation about the 26-year-old's future has been rife for some time.

Signed from Wolfsburg for £27million 18 months ago, the giant Bosnian has never quite managed to hit the heights expected.

Nevertheless, he did score 19 goals in all competitions for City last term, including 14 in the Premier League, the last of which was the crucial stoppage-time equaliser in that dramatic final-day encounter with QPR that paved the way for Sergio Aguero's title-sealing winner.

Source: PA

Source: PA