Manchester City winning fight with Inter Milan for Brazil defender Lucio

06 July 2009 14:07
Manchester City are reportedly set to sign Brazil defender Lucio from Bayern Munich. Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho is also interested in the solid centre-half, who expects to leave the Bundesliga giants after fearing he is not in new boss Louis van Gaal's plans. Lucio has been a rock at the heart of the Bayern defence for five years and regularly captains his country. The 31-year-old was part of the Brazil side that won the Confederations Cup in South Africa last month. Inter have expressed an interest after frustrating talks with Chelsea over signing Portugal defender Ricardo Carvalho. But respected French newspaper L'Equipe suggests City are in the driving seat, with some reports putting the fee about £6million. Van Gaal reiterated he has too many similar defenders. The former Ajax boss told German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung: 'Lucio has a contract with the club, as does Martin Demichelis, Daniel van Buyten and Breno. 'All four defenders are right-footed and competing for a place in the starting line-up.'

Source: Daily_Mail