• Premier League

'Manchester City chose Balotelli over Cavani'

ESPN staff
November 11, 2014
Was Pellegrini fit for City job?

Manchester City passed up the chance to sign Edinson Cavani from Palermo in 2010 because then-manager Roberto Mancini preferred to buy Mario Balotelli, the Sicilian club have claimed.

Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini says he recommended Cavani to Mancini, who was then in his first summer in charge of City.

However, Mancini opted instead to bring in Balotelli, who he knew from his time as Inter Milan boss, for £24 million.

"I suggested Cavani to Mancini at Manchester City, but he chose Balotelli, and I told him I did not understand," Zamparini told tuttomercatoweb. "I thought Edinson was much, much better."

Instead of joining City in 2010, Cavani moved to Napoli for €17m and, after scoring 104 goals in 138 games for the club, moved on to Paris Saint-Germain in 2013 for €64.5m.

Meanwhile, Balotelli scored 30 goals in 80 games for City and set up Sergio Aguero's Premier League title-deciding winner against Queens Park Rangers in 2012, before leaving for AC Milan in January 2013 for just €20m. He then joined Liverpool this summer for a fee of £16m.

After Mancini's sacking in May 2013, his successor, Manuel Pellegrini, decided against pursuing City's interest in Cavani and signed Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic instead.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
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