Manchester City look like they are about to break the bank once again, as they have agreed a world-record £52million fee with Ligue 1 side AS Monaco for full-back Benjamin Mendy.

Splashing out once again

Manager Pep Guardiola has already spent heavily as he looks to rectify his first trophyless in his managerial career, with the club already spending well over £100m on the likes of Bernardo Silva and Ederson early on in the window.

They went a step further earlier this week as they broke the world record for the signing of a defender as they completed the £50m signing of Kyle Walker from Tottenham Hotspur.

However City look to be prepared to break their own record with the signing of yet another full-back. Mendy only signed for Monaco last summer from Marseille and the 23-year-old was a key component in helping the side to their first league title in 17 years.

It is also believed that The Citizens are interested in the services of Real Madrid's Danilo with a £26.5m fee agreed earlier in the week, if the deal for Brazilian also goes through it will take their spending on full-backs alone well over the £100m mark.

"Wish him all the best"

Their spend has come as no surprise as Guardiola had quite the refresh of his squad at the end of the last campaign, with Bacary Sagna and Gaël Clichy not renewing their contracts at the Etihad Stadium and Pablo Zabaleta signing for West Ham United.

One that did remain was Aleksandar Kolarov but his stay Eastlands looks to be nearing its end, with Kolarov closing in on a return to Italy.

It looks like the Serbian will be leaving for a return to Rome where he will be signing with his former club Lazio's rival club AS Roma. Guardiola admitted that Kolarov was going to be imminently leaving the club and wished him all the best for the future.

“I don’t like to work with people who don’t want to stay," Guardiola stated on Kolarov's imminent departure. “Kola helped me last season a lot with many, many things."

“He has a big chance to go back to Rome," the coach said. "He spoke to me and said he wanted to leave."

“I don’t like to be with players who don’t want to stay," Guardiola concluded. “I wish him all the best. He is really nice guy - we had an excellent relationship."

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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.