Mancini plays down Falcao visit

Posted Tuesday, October 09, 2012 by ESPN

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini insists that he did not visit the Vicente Calderon to scout Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao on Sunday.

Mancini already has the luxury of being able to call on the striking talents of Edin Dzeko, Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Mario Balotelli. But the Colombian goalscoring sensation's recent form has been such that managers across Europe have been said to have pondered a bid for the player in the coming January transfer window.

The Italian is backed by a rich owner in Sheikh Mansour and City have not been averse to send scouts to check out the player. Mancini's visit, however, came as something of a surprise as just a day earlier he had been busy masterminding a win over Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium.

The ex-Inter Milan boss insisted to reporters that there was nothing sinister in his motives for the visit and stated that he had only shown up in Spain to check up on his son Andrea Mancini who is on the books of La Liga side Real Valladoid.

"I am here to see my son who played in Valladolid," he simply told reporters when questioned if he was there to rate Falcao's performance for himself.

Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo also stepped in to reiterate that the club were confident of holding onto Falcao and were not expecting any bids from clubs in January.

"We know that Mancini has come to watch but we are calm on the subject of Falcao," Cerezo told reporters.

"I suppose Mancini is here to look for a house in Malaga!"

Falcao has already scored 12 goals from just seven games and was bought by the Europa League winners for a reported fee of €40 million back in 2011.