Manchester City to bid for Atletico Madrid's Argentine star Aguero

Money-laden Manchester City are ready to break the bank again to land Atletico Madrid's Argentine star Sergio Aguero.

City representatives watched the 20-year-old in last night's La Liga derby clash with Getafe.

And with the Abu Dhabi cash behind the Eastlands side meaning they would have no problems in breaking the British transfer record to pay the £48million that represents the release clause in Aguero's contract, Atletico fear they may be powerless to resist City.

Aguero was on the interim list drafted by City's new owners on their deadline day plunge into the market which saw Brazilian superstar Robinho snatched out of Chelsea's embrace to move to Manchester from Real Madrid.

Inter Milan have already approached Aguero's father in law, Diego Maradona, in a bid to entice the South American to the San Siro, offering him a role as an advisor to the Italian giants.

But City's limitless cash coffers mean they can blow any rivals out of the water in their attempts to buy a team good enough to conquer Europe within three years.

Atletico are reluctant to part company with Aguero, who has become the linchpin of Javier Aguirre's team, including a brace on his Champions League debut at PSV Eindhoven last week.

The Olympic gold medallist has been hailed as potentially the best player in the world in waiting by his Atletico team-mate and former Chelsea midfielder Maniche.

And with City's ambitions utterly transformed by their shock takeover, a January bid is already being lined up.

Atletico would be likely to reject that approach, especially if they are still in the Champions League, as seems likely.

But as the Vicente Calderon side proved when they let Fernando Torres leave for Liverpool in a £26.5m move last summer, Atletico are financial realists who would find it impossible to resist a mega bid at the end of the season.

An Atletico insider said: "The club does not want to sell Aguero and will not be interested in doing anything in the winter window.

"But if a bid is received that matches his release clause, it would make sense to listen to that offer and weigh things up."

Check out Mirror.co.uk's 10 Things you need to know about Sergio Aguero

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