City lead race for Sanchez - Udinese (PLUS video)
Published 23:01 15/06/11 By David Anderson
Manchester City have been backed to beat Manchester United to Chile sensation Alexis Sanchez by his club, Udinese.
Udinese owner Gianpaolo Pozzo claims City are leading the race for this summer's hottest transfer target, despite him meeting United chief executive David Gill for talks on Tuesday.
United have said they will match City's £27million offer for Sanchez and Pozzo expects Roberto Mancini to outbid Sir Alex Ferguson.
"I think there is a 50% chance that he will stay in Udine," said Pozzo. "However, if he was to leave, I would say City have the highest probability of success."
Udinese want at least £32m for their prized asset and Pozzo wants to spark an auction with Inter Milan, Barcelona and Juventus all keen.
However, those three clubs have failed to match the bids made by City and United during talks with Udinese.
Pozzo said: "Concrete offers regarding the real value of the player have not arrived yet.
"We did speak to Inter, but we have not spoken to them since to reach an agreement. Things are nevertheless done at the last minute."
City's bid has been complicated by Wladimir Weiss refusing to be a makeweight in the deal and the Blues valued him at £4.4m in the package.
The Slovakia international winger does not want to move to Italy - he would prefer a switch to Spain, where is wanted by Espanyol - but City will not let that deflect them when Sanchez is Mancini's No.1 summer target.
City's negotiating team of CEO Garry Cook and football administrator Brian Marwood met Pozzo on Monday and are ready for fresh talks.
They are ready to offer Sanchez a five-year deal worth over £100,000-a-week.
They believe their offer would be attractive to Sanchez, despite the South American's preference to remain in Italy or move to Spain.
However Udinese consultant Stefano Antonelli told Mirror Sport late last night that the Catalan giants have now upped the ante.
He said: “Barca’s very powerful push onto the scene has changed the scenario.”
Top 10 things you need to know about United, City and Barca target Alexis Sanchez
And here's some video showing what the fuss is all about:
