Manchester City are considering adding a third defender this summer to Roberto Mancini's squad by joining the pursuit of the highly rated Uruguay international Sebastián Coates.
Coates has been linked with several clubs in South America and Europe following an impressive two seasons at the heart of the defence of Nacional, the Montevideo club that recently won the Uruguayan championship, and his graduation to the national team at the Copa América.
Scouts from several Premier League clubs have monitored the 20-year-old in recent months, and City are now understood to have made an approach during the Copa América, where Coates won his third senior cap in the final group game against Mexico. However, they face competition from a rival Premier League club – Arsenal had the 6ft 6in defender watched a dozen times last season and are in the market for central defenders, as are Liverpool – and growing interest in Coates has seen Nacional raise their asking price towards £20m.
Coates, an elegant, quick defender, was only last month linked with a €3.5m (£3.1m) transfer to Porto, the Portuguese champions, following the collapse of a proposed move to São Paulo in Brazil. Nacional now believe they can generate much more, thanks to interest from the Premier League, although even with City's wealth, a fee of £20m would appear ambitious.
The Uruguay defender missed out on a place in Oscar Washington Tabárez's World Cup squad in South Africa last summer and his inexperience at senior international level could present problems obtaining a work permit, although he does have Spanish and British ancestry.
