City still keen on new faces

Robinho has been on loan with Santos since January and has recently made comments which suggest he would prefer to remain in Brazil.

It seems unlikely to happen given Santos could not muster anything like the club record ¦pound;32.5million fee that brought him to City from Real Madrid two years ago.

Mancini said: "Robinho will stay in Brazil until the international game and then he will come back here because I need to speak with him."

He added: "I worked with him for one month, then he decided to go back to Brazil. He said he wanted to stay at home so he could prepare to play for Brazil at the World Cup.

"There was no pressure from me but now I must speak with him because it is very difficult for him to stay at Santos."

Whether Robinho's name could crop up in connection with Mancini's attempts to sign Balotelli is open to question.

Mancini insists Inter Milan have not brought the issue up, although something needs to happen in order to break an impasse that has put the entire move in doubt.

"We are speaking with Inter Milan and we will try to get an agreement but Robinho has not been mentioned," he said. "I am still hopeful. We have time but we will not pay too high a price."

One player going nowhere is Emmanuel Adebayor, who has been reported as stating his future lies in Italy, but Mancini insists the Togo striker is happy where he is.

"The things about Emmanuel are not true," said Mancini. "Absolutely not."

Source: PA

Source: PA