Official: Manchester City Confirm Eliaquim Mangala Signing

Manchester City have confirmed the signing of defender Eliaquim Mangala from Portuguese club FC Porto for an undisclosed fee.

Mangala, who is City's sixth signing of the summer, has agreed a five-year contract with the club. The defender has been designated the number 20 jersey for the upcoming Premier League season.

The Citizens have been tracking the French defender from as early as the 2014 January transfer window with third party ownership issues delaying the deal.

City have beaten off competition from local rivals Manchester United and Chelsea to land the highly coveted defender.

The 23-year-old defender is looking forward to starting his journey with the English champions, and believes that it was the right time for him to leave Porto and move to the Premier League, which he rates as the best league in the world.

"City is a top club in Europe. For me, it was an important step to leave Porto and join Manchester City in order to continue my progress. I want to win titles and I believe I can do this. I am ambitious and this is why I am here," Mangala told Manchester City's official site.

"I'm very happy to come to England because for me, the Premier League is the best league in the world. It is a very intense and very aggressive competition. There are plenty of goals, so it is also really nice to watch and I can't wait to get started," he added.

The Frenchman should settle into his new club with relative ease, as he is already friends with a few of the City players. His former Porto team-mate Fernando, who joined the Manchester Club earlier in the summer, is one of them.

"The fact that Fernando is here is better because I played with him at Porto but there is also other players that I know like Sagna, Clichy and Nasri," the Frenchman added.

Citizens boss, Manuel Pellegrini, is also delighted with the capture of the defender, and feels that he has all the qualities required to become one of the best defenders in the world.

"I'm delighted to have added a player of Eliaquim's quality in the squad ahead of the new season," Pellegrini said.

"He is already a fine player but in my opinion, he has all of the mental, physical, technical and tactical attributes to become one of Europe's very best defenders.

"Eliaquim is a player I believe will make an immediate impact in the Premier League, thanks to his physicality, his reading of the game and quality on the ball," the Chilean said.

"I think he will prove to be a great signing for us," he added.