Roma have slapped a £50million price tag on in-demand defender Medhi Benatia.
The
Morocco international has attracted interest from the likes of
Barcelona and Chelsea - while Manchester City had a £16.5million offer
rejected on Friday.
The
Premier League champions are also interested in Porto's French defender
Eliaquim Mangala, although he is believed to prefer a move to Chelsea.
Benatia
has been fined by Roma for publicly criticising their latest contract
offer, accusing the club of treating him 'like a child' after being
offered what he considered an 'unacceptable' pay rise.
Priced out of the market? Roma have put a £50m price tag on Manchester City target Medhi Benatia
However,
club director Walter Sabatini insists the 27-year-old will not be
allowed to leave for less than 61million Euros (£50million).
Speaking
on Roma's official website, Sabatini said: 'Mehdi is a great player
with a contract that expires in four years' time. We have no problem
with him.
Case for the defence: City have shown interest in Medhi Benatia (L) and Eliaquim Mangala (R)
'Perhaps
he slipped up with a few comments or words but he didn't intend to
distance himself from Roma or the fans. He mentioned broken promises.
That's not exactly how it went. It's true that when he signed for Roma
he turned down other offers that were higher than ours.
'I
said to him: 'You try and play like Benatia and we'll give you an
improved contract.' We offered him an increase -- although there was no
obligation for us to do so -- and we didn't agree on the amount, but he
didn't mean to describe it as 'ridiculous.' He's speaking a language
that's not his own -- you can't slaughter him for it.'
Blues in the red: City won the Premier League but will have their spending restricted by FFP regulations
Sabatini stressed that Benatia would stay at Roma and accused the player's agent, Moussa Sissoko, of creating problems.
'I'd
like to remind this man that 30 million is the price I believe
Benatia's weak foot to be worth, his left. His right foot is worth at
least a million more. So you do the maths.'
'As
I've said, the player is not for sale, but if his agent wants to
speculate on a price for him, then any clubs who are interested should
consider him to be worth 61 million.
'If someone were to offer that amount, then I don't think I could guarantee that he would stay 100 percent.'
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