Mangala Linked With Inter Switch

Inter Milan officials will try to seal a pre-contract agreement for Manchester City central defender Eliaquim Mangala over the weekend.

The powerful France international is now free to talk to clubs on the continent and won’t be offered a new deal at the Etihad when his contract ends this summer.

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City sources have confirmed it is the Italian giants who are pushing hardest for Mangala, with Turkish side Galatasaray having held early talks with his representatives. Inter are believed to be willing to match the 27-year-old’s present salary of £90,000-per-week, along with a lucrative six-figure signing-on fee to sweeten the deal further.

Mangala was signed from Porto in 2014 for £32million and has picked up a Premier League title medal and two League Cup gongs during his time in Manchester, although he never failed to establish himself as a regular starter with the Citizens, being loaned out to both Valencia and Everton during that time also.

He damaged knee ligaments playing for the Toffees back in February and is now fit again, so the chance to ply his trade for Inter at the San Siro is certainly an attractive proposition for the likeable Frenchman.