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City's purported interest in Dusan Vlahovic appeared to have cooled over recent weeks, but the latest reports suggest that the Blues are still interested in the Fiorentina striker.
Meanwhile, one City defender is attracting interest from a top-four chasing rival.
City back in the race
After City appeared to be out of the race to sign Vlahovic, it looks like they are right back in it, just in time for the hokey-cokey at your Christmas party.
According to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, City are willing to meet the asking price for the Serbian forward, who will have just one year remaining on his Fiorentina contract by the end of the current season.
It looked like Juventus and Arsenal had stolen a march on City in terms of pursuing the 21-year-old's signature, but now everything rests on whether City actually decide to make him their prime target.
Erling Haaland is obviously on the market soon, and it's likely they will pursue him before turning their attention to Vlahovic. The Serbian is believed to favour a move to Juventus though, so that could work against City.
Our view
There is no doubting that Vlahovic is a talented young striker - the 12 goals he has scored in 15 Serie A games this season speak for themselves.
There are questions surrounding the more technical areas of his game though, and how he would adapt to Pep Guardiola's system. Haaland is the more well-rounded attacker at present, one who brings a greater guarantee of success.
Potential January move for Blues defender
Nathan Ake has endured a frustrating first 16 months at City, having failed to displace any of John Stones, Ruben Dias or Aymeric Laporte in Guardiola's centre-back hierarchy.
The Netherlands international produced arguably his best performance for the club in Wednesday's win against Aston Villa though, as he showed the composure and technical quality that attracted City to him in the first place.
Certainly, plenty of other teams see him as a quality defender. One of those being West Ham.
According to 90min, the Hammers are interested in signing Ake on loan in January, with an obligation to make the deal permanent in the summer.
David Moyes' side are keen to bring in a defensive reinforcement following a long-term injury sustained by Angelo Ogbonna so, under the circumstances, City could try and recoup a chunk of the £41m they paid Bournemouth for Ake last year.
Our view
While it is clear that Ake is City's fourth choice central defender, it would be risky to let him leave the club halfway through the season without bringing in a replacement.
He put in a great performance against Villa with Laporte suspended and Stones out injured - without him, City would have had to plug Fernandinho into the gap, or another non-defender. It's worth keeping Ake around until the summer at least.
A match never meant to be
Joaquin Correa might be a name unfamiliar to some City fans, but the Inter attacker did come close to joining the Blues back in 2015.
City were keen on signing the young Argentine from Estudiantes in January 2015, but unusually for City, they did not get their man.
Correa decided to snub City's interests in favour of a move to Italian club Sampdoria, because he "didn't want to go to Manchester City and sit on the bench", as he told Corriere dello Sport.
Since then the forward has played for Sevilla, Lazio and now Inter, for whom he has scored four goals in 11 Serie A games since joining on loan in the summer.
Our view
Perhaps City could have done with Correa at the time - both the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons were disappointing for Manuel Pellegrini's side - but in the grand scheme of things everything has worked out fine.
Correa would not get into Guardiola's side today, so perhaps it's just as well that City did not get their way. Although another member of the Argentinian Blues fraternity might have been fun.
Should City pursue Vlahovic or make Haaland their main target? Follow our City Is Ours writer Alex Brotherton on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
