Manchester City targeting Danny Rose and Ivan Rakitic

Manchester City are eager to sign Tottenham defender Danny Rose and are also monitoring Ivan Rakitic's situation at Barcelona. Pep Guardiola's side are in dire need of fresh blood in the full-back positions and have identified Rose as the man to replace the declining Aleksandar Kolarov and Gael Clichy. The aforementioned duo are the wrong side of 30 and out of contract at the end of the current campaign.

Tottenham have no need to sell Rose, who signed a five-year contract in September, and ESPN claims that the club are nonplussed by City's interest in the left-back, who has emerged as a key part of Mauricio Pochettino's side over the last two years.

Pep Guardiola's men are short on homegrown players and see Rose as a potential candidate to improve their porous backline and help fill their quota. City also carried an interest in Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin, but the Spaniard signed a whopping six-year-deal with the Gunners in November.

City are also looking to bolster their midfield options and are currently monitoring Ivan Rakitic's situation at Barcelona. The Croatian has seemingly fallen out-of-favour at the Camp Nou and has only started two of Barca's last eight fixtures.

With the future of Yaya Toure in doubt, Fernandinho's contract expiring in the summer and Ilkay Gundogan on the sidelines for a prolonged spell after damaging the cruciate ligament in his right knee, Guardiola's men are interested in bringing Rakitic to the Etihad Stadium and a move could be facilitated by Barcelona, who need to make funds available in order to extend Lionel Messi's contract.

When asked about working with the former Bayern Munich manager before his side's Champions League defeat by City at the Etihad Stadium in November, Rakitic said: "It would be fantastic to work with him one day and if not I'll invite him for a coffee."