Manchester City’s Five-Man Transfer Shortlist After Champions League Ban Was Overturned

Manchester City will significantly ramp up their squad overhaul this summer after their Champions League ban was overturned.

The Premier League club initially received a two-year ban from UEFA competitions (both the Champions League and Europa League) earlier this year.

The city was accused of breaking Financial Fair Play rules alongside allegations of inflating their sponsorship earnings and difficulty in cooperating with officials.

However, City were successful in their appeal against the ban and on Monday heard that the initial punishment had been overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The Daily Star has now compiled the five transfers that City are expected to target ahead of the summer window opening this month.

City are in need of defensive reinforcement and have been linked with Villarreal star Pau Torres, who has a £45m release clause.

Another defensive name on the shortlist includes Nathan Ake, who could be easy to lure away from Bournemouth should they be relegated this season.

According to the newspaper, City have a third defender on the list in the form of Napoli star Kalidou Koulibaly.

Koulibaly is widely regarded as one of the best centre-backs in world football and has previously been linked with Manchester United.

The Daily Star reports that City could finally manage to land the highly sought-after 29-year-old defender, who could cost £70m or more to pry away from Napoli.

Pep Guardiola is expected to bolster his attacking options and Valencia winger Ferran Torres is reportedly on the club's radar.

City will ramp up efforts to land a winger after Leroy Sane completed a sensational move to Bayern Munich earlier this month.

The final name on City's five-man shortlist is Benfica defender Ruben Dias, but the move would be a pricy one for the Premier League club.

The 23-year-old Portugal international recently saw his release clause bumped up to a hefty £89m.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Manchester City, Football News, Football, Premier League, Ruben Dias, Kalidou Koulibaly

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

@AdnanRiaz9