Manchester City lead Chelsea in 60m race for Falcao

EXCLUSIVE
By Greg Stobart

Manchester City are leading Chelsea in the race to sign Atletico Madrid star Radamel Falcao for 60 million in January.

As exclusively revealed by Goal.com in June, the Premier League champions tried to sign Falcao in the summer and are willing to pay a record fee for the Colombian in the New Year, with Portuguese super agent Jorge Mendes attempting to broker the move.

A summer move failed to materialise as the club were unable to offload Edin Dzeko despite interest from AC Milan and Bayern Munich, while Carlos Tevez's return to form saw him return to favour under Roberto Mancini.

Chelsea are also huge admirers of Falcao, who has scored 42 goals in 53 appearances for Atletico Madrid including a stunning hat-trick against the Blues in his side's Uefa Supercup victory in Monaco last Friday.

But City are confident of landing their man after a 12-mon th long pursuit with Atletico's recent financial struggles ensuring they must listen to big-money offers for their star player.

Falcao has a 60m release clause in his Atletico Madrid contract and City believe their strong relationship with the Spanish club will help to facilitate a deal.

City eased Atletico's financial difficulties last year by paying 45m to sign Sergio Aguero, from under the noses of their great rivals Real Madrid, with most of the transfer fee paid up front.

And Roberto Mancini will be given the funds to land a marquee signing in January despite the club's conscious efforts to balance the books and comply with Uefas financial fair play rules.

In an interview with Goal.com last week Falcao insisted the Premier League wasn't a "dream" of his but the 26-year-old's father has suggested that the Colombian is very likely to complete a switch to the Premier League in January - and City sources say the club will pull out all the stops to land their man.

When asked whether a move to England could be on the cards for his son in the next transfer window, Falcao senior said: "Yes, that chance is very big."

City bolstered their squad over the summer by signing Javi Garcia, Jack Rodwell, Matija Nastasic, Scott Sinclair and Maicon.

But their missed out on a number of Mancini's top targets including Daniele De Rossi, Robin van Persie, Eden Hazard and Javi Martinez.

Falcao, who joined Atletico Madrid from Porto in August 2011 in a deal worth 47m, has a reputation as one of the most clinical finishers in world football and would represent a marquee arrival to the Etihad Stadium.

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