Manchester City reach deal with Real Madrid for new defender

Manchester City have beaten Chelsea to the signature of Real Madrid right-back Danilo, reports Gianluca Di Marzio.

Pep Guardiola’s side only made Kyle Walker the most expensive defender in football history earlier this month after paying £54m for the Tottenham right-back, but the City boss still wants another right-back.

Dani Alves was expected to reunite with the City manager only to turn down the chance to move to England in favour of a glamorous switch to Paris Saint-Germain and now City have set their sights on Danilo.

The Brazilian defender is free to leave Madrid this summer after underwhelming during his two years at the club and had been heavily linked with a move to Juventus.

Max Allegri’s side were forced to drop their interest after filling their final non-EU spot with Bayern Munich winger Douglas Costa, while Chelsea refused to match Madrid’s £30.8m valuation of the 26-year-old.

However, City have reached an agreement worth an initial €30m (£26.6m) with Madrid plus a further €5m (£4.4m) in performance related add-ons and Danilo will put pen to paper on a five-year deal.

Only Casemiro (5.7) averaged more tackles and interceptions combined of Madrid players in La Liga last season than Danilo (5.4). 

For more stats on Danilo, click here to visit his WhoScored player page