Premier League champions Manchester City are pondering a move for young Everton midfield work horse Ross Barkley as a replacement for the wantaway Yaya Toure.
City have no intentions of selling the Ivory Coast international who has been pushing for a move to France or Spain but have been planning for the future and Barkley, at 20 years old, presents an investment into the future.
City desire to bolster the home grown players’ quota in their side and that has thrown up the possibility of bringing in one of the biggest talents in world football to the Etihad Stadium – Paul Pogba from Juventus.
That move would add insult to injury for the Red half of Manchester as the Frenchman walked out of the club citing a lack of first team opportunities under Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and has since then, go on to become a world beater with Juventus, winning the Young Player of the Year award at the World Cup.
Pogba spent three years at Old Trafford qualifies him as a home grown player and with City having a smaller quota of home grown players, their move for Pogba would make a lot of sense. But the financial difficulties facing City could mean that they move in the transfer market for Barkley, who was one of the stars of the Premier League last season as Everton finished in fifth place.
Everton would be unwilling to sell their prized asset but Manchester City think a bid in the region of £ 30 million would be enough to lure them into selling the England man.