Manchester City and Arsenal go head to head in battle for £25m German World Cup star
Posted Sunday, September 07, 2014 by Dailystar.co.uk
REUS BATTLE: Arsenal and Manchester City look set to go toe to toe for the signature of Marco Reus
Manchester City will mark the end of their UEFA-imposed financial restrictions by making a £25 million move for German golden-boy Marco Reus.
The Daily Star Sunday can reveal that the Borussia Dortmund winger will be City's top transfer target next year.
And that will put them in direct opposition with Arsenal their Premier League opponents at The Emirates on Saturday.
Reus, 25, was selected for the World Cup by Germany, but withdrew with an ankle injury.
He's fit again now though and has a buy-out clause in his contract which can be activated by any offer above £25 million from next summer.
City's transfer-fixer Txiki Begiristain is already working on the deal.
Dortmund know they will lose Reus and would prefer him to move to the Premier League rather than their deadly Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich.
City believe Reus is better value than another player they coveted - An- gel Di Maria - who moved to Man United from Real Madrid for a British record £59.7m.
City expect to see their spending restrictions lifted by UEFA after breaking Financial Fair Play rules.
They stayed within their spending cap of £49.9m for the last window.
And they can claim a profit on transfer dealings as Valencia have agreed a £25m fee for striker Alvaro Negredo.
They have paid £2m up front to City as a loan fee with a further £23m guaranteed to make the deal permanent.
City's outgoing deals before the window closed included the £3.5m sale of midfielder Emyr Hughes to Wigan.
UEFA originally imposed a two-year spending cap on City, but said the second year would be lifted if they put their financial house in order.
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