Manchester City Reject Atletico Madrid Bid For Alvaro Negredo

Manchester City have turned down a €15m (£12m) bid from Atletico Madrid for unsettled striker Alvaro Negredo, reports in Spain claim.

The La Liga winners are desperately looking to bolster their attack with at least two strikers as they prepare to part ways with both David Villa and Diego Costa.

Former Barcelona star Villa has already confirmed he will join New York City while Costa is on the verge of completing an expected move to Chelsea in the next few weeks.

Recent reports claim that Atletico manager Diego Simeone's first choice to replace Costa is Romelu Lukaku but he also wants Negredo to cover Villa's vacancy.

Indeed, according to Spanish newspaper Marca the Madrid-based team have already firmed up their interest in the Man City striker by launching a €15m bid.

However, Marca understands that City rejected Atletico's first approach saying City manager Manuel Pellegrini does not want to lose the Spaniard. It also understands the Premier League side are unwilling to listen to offers under €30m after paying out around €25m to Sevilla to secure his services.

Simeone has been an admirer of the Spanish striker and tried to secure his services last summer as a replacement for Radamel Falcao.

Negredo moved instead to the Etihad Stadium and after a promising start to the campaign suddenly disappeared from Pellegrini's starting line-up in January in favour of Edin Dzeko.

Recently Spanish newspaper AS reported the striker was upset with Pellegrini after losing his place in the World Cup Spain squad and has expressed his desire to return to La Liga.