Manchester City defender Nicolás Otamendi is ‘enchanted’ with the idea of a return to Porto and is willing to lower his salary to do so.
That’s according to A Bola, who say the Argentine defender is ‘betting on leaving’ the Etihad this summer.
He has found himself out of favour under Pep Guardiola in recent seasons and wants to leave to find regular football elsewhere.
Porto have been linked with a move for several weeks, and A Bola say that they ‘have an advantage’ over Lazio and Valencia because, aside from being a club Otamendi knows, they can offer him Champions League football.
His agent, Jorge Mendes, is working to ‘settle the deal’ with Manchester City but the most significant issue they need to overcome is his wages.
Otamendi earns €7m a year at the Etihad, and that is a price Porto can’t afford, with only Iker Casillas having earned a ‘salary of that magnitude’.
The defender, therefore, is trying to convince Manchester City to ‘compensate him’ for the final two years of his current deal so that he can find an agreement with Porto that wouldn’t ‘blow up’ their wage structure.
One scenario the Portuguese club are looking at is offering him a medium\long-term contract to make a deal work.
