They report the Blues have tentatively asked about the availability of Lille’s Nicolas Pepe, who has been one of Ligue 1’s brightest stars in the opening months of the new campaign.
The report reads: “Manchester City have inquired about the availability of Ivory Coast forward Nicolas Pepe as the Premier League champions look for options to further strengthen their record-breaking attack.
“The 23-year-old Pepe has been outstanding in Lille’s rise to second place in Ligue 1, scoring eight and laying on seven goals in 12 appearances this season.
“Valued at around £44m by Lille, the right-footed forward has attracted the attention of a number of Champions League clubs.
“On the final day of the summer transfer window, Lille are understood to have rejected an offer of £26m from Olympique Lyonnais for Pepe.”
Moving on and Raheem Sterling continues to gather headlines in the national press after his excellent display against Southampton.
The latest to heap praise of the City forward is Sky pundit Jamie Carragher – even if the Express have somewhat crow-barred Eden Hazard into the story.
The report reads: “Raheem Sterling is on a level par with the likes of Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, according to Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher.
“And Carragher thinks Sterling’s level of performances are on a similar plane to Hazard and co.
‘A young English lad is thriving in a team with the best manager in the world,’ Carragher said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football when discussing Sterling’s improvement.
‘He’s up there with the best players in the league. He deserves everything he gets.
‘On the back of the Spanish game in an English shirt, hopefully we will see that a little bit more.
‘He does need to up his stats in terms of goals and assists for the national team.
‘But what he is doing for Man City, we always talk about Silva and Aguero, and he is now in that company.’
So, no mention of Hazard, but we accept the Belgian is very much ‘one of the best players in the league’!
Finally today, bad news for City loan Daniel Arzani who looks set to miss the rest of the campaign following a nasty injury.
This Is Futbol write: “Manchester City attacker Daniel Arzani has revealed on Instagram he will miss the rest of the season after suffering injury heartbreak.
“The winger, who is on a two-year loan at Celtic, explained that he requires a knee reconstruction after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
“The injury rules Arzani out of Australia’s Asian Cup defence next January and the rest of the European season following the injury sustained while changing direction 20 minutes into his Celtic debut last week.
‘This is also a very tough time for me as I received the bad news today that I will indeed need an ACL op [operation], ruling me out until next season,’ Arzani posted on his personal Instagram account on Tuesday after visiting a knee specialist in Spain.
Get well soon, Daniel.
That’s all for today – we’ll be back tomorrow ahead of our Champions League clash with Shakhtar Donetsk.
