Manchester City Have a Deal in Place for Roma's Mehdi Benatia

Manchester City have reportedly agreed a deal to sign Roma defender Mehdi Benatia.

However, according to the Mirror, the transfer of the Moroccan defender will only be sanctioned once the Italian club finds a suitable replacement.

City boss Manuel Pellegrini is looking to bring in defensive cover as they only have two experienced defenders in the first team in Martin Demichelis and Vincent Kompany. After losing Joleon Lescott and with Micah Richards' future uncertain, the manager will be keen to add some more steel to the back line.

Benatia, who only joined Roma during the last summer transfer window from Udinese, has made a name for himself as one the best defenders in Europe. Apart from his defensive skills, he also chips in with the goals. The Moroccan scored five goals in his debut season for the Serie A club.

The Citizens boss is very keen to bring in the former Udinese defender and is willing to shell out up to £30m to get his man. However, Roma, who have qualified for the Champions League, have no compulsion to sell the player. They are going to wait till they find a perfect replacement first and then only cash-in on their defensive star.

City are also keeping tabs on French defender Eliaquim Mangala in case they miss out on their primary target. The French defender has been on their radar since the January transfer window.

Meanwhile, City captain Kompany, whose national team Belgium is through to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, was talking about their impressive performance against the USA in the round of 16 match.

They beat the Americans 2-1 after extra-time, but registered 38 shots on goal of which 27 were on target. USA had their goalkeeper Tim Howard to thank for keeping them in the game for long periods of time.

"We were impressive going forward. Their 'keeper kept them in it," Kompany told FIFA.com.

"You need two teams to produce an exciting match. The Americans tried to push forward. That's all we were asking for. It takes two to tango, and today they wanted the same thing as us," the Belgium captain added.