Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini targets three new signings

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini believes he still needs to sign a further three players.

Gael Clichy and Stefan Savic are the only high-profile signings made by the club so far this summer, but City look to be in the market for a replacement for wantaway striker Carlos Tevez.

The Argentine has continually spoken of his desire to leave Eastlands, and looked set to seal a return to former club Corinthians, only for the deal to fall through before the close of the Brazilian transfer window.

Whilst Mancini has insisted that Tevez remains an important player at the club, the Italian boss is adamant his side still need a further three additions as they look to challenge for the Premier League title, with a move for Atletico Madrid’s Sergio Aguero widely touted.

Speaking to Sky Sports News, Mancini said: “I think it is really difficult to buy any players because all the good teams want these players.

“But I hope that before the game against Manchester United in the Community Shield on August 7 we can have all these players.

“We have two, three targets but it depends. We need to improve because we are at the moment a few players short for competition and we need to have other players.”

With the Tevez transfer saga set to continue, Mancini insists that he is welcome at the club, but also conceded that City would be willing to sell the striker for the family reasons he has cited so far.

He added: “At the moment Carlos is still a City player, like yesterday, like three days ago. In the future we will see what can happen. But for us Carlos is an important player.

“Carlos wants to leave, wants to come back to Argentina or maybe another country for his family. It is only because of this I think that the club accept to sell Carlos, because I think that we respect his reasons.”

Reports emerged on Friday that Tevez had met Inter sporting director Marco Branca, and the player’s agent, Kia Joorabchian, is confident that new bids will come in for the 27-year-old.

“This is Carlos Tevez we are talking about, one of the best players in the world. We are not overly worried,” Joorabchian told BBC Sport.

“He wants to leave but is still a City player at the moment and we will of course respect that.

“We’ve just got to wait and see who comes in next for him.”