Man City Transfer News: Mario Gomez Is Carlos Tevez Replacement?

by Joseph Dempsey

Independent. The Argentina international has completed his move to Italian champions Juventus leaving the Sky Blues with Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko as the only senior strikers at the club. Gomez is understood to be one of four targets identified by the deposed Premier League champions to replace 'The Apache' as they look to rapidly rebuild their depleted strike force for next season, with Seville's Alvaro Negredo, Roma's Pablo Osvaldo and Benfica's Oscar Cardozo understood to be the other candidates. The latter has had a bitter falling out with the Portuguese outfit and is definitely leaving, with his club demanding ‚17 million (£14.5 million) but could accept ‚15 million (£12.8 million). £20 million-rated Gomez is the more attractive prospect though, and he too looks likely to leave having spent much of last season playing second fiddle to Mario Mandzukic, while the 27-year old could fall further down the pecking order still if Bayern land their top summer targets, understood to be Robert Lewandowski and Luis Suarez. City need a player off Gomez' caliber; with Tevez and Balotelli now gone and Dzeko limited to substitute appearances last season, Manuel Pellegrini's hopes of challenging for honours next season appear to rest on Sergio Aguero alone. The former Stuttgart man scored 19 times in 32 appearances last season and 26 in 33 the season prior. He has also been linked with Napoli, Italian rivals Fiorentina and Chelsea.

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Contributor

Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.