Emmanuel Adebayor fee agreed: Manchester City continue summer spending after Arsenal accept £25m for Togo striker
Striking fear: City's attempts to sign Emmanuel Adebayor will set panic into the 'Big Four' after the club completed the arrival of Argentine ace Carlos Tevez (R)
Manchester City are on the verge of signing Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor after having their £25million bid accepted. The Gunners are willing to offload the Togo star, who is now set to join Carlos Tevez at Eastlands.
Manager Mark Hughes has moved quickly to wrap up the deal and Adebayor is expected to sign a five-year deal worth £170,000 a week.
Pairing Adebayor and Tevez - whose £25m arrival was confirmed last night - would be a coup for City as they look to break into the top four of the Barclays Premier League.
Meanwhile, Chelsea captain John Terry's interest in a move to City remains very strong and Hughes also still intends to sign Everton defender Joleon Lescott for £20m.
City moved for Adebayor over the weekend after giving up on a deal to bring in Samuel Eto'o from Barcelona. Eto'o tried to push a move through late on but City had grown tired of waiting for him.
Despite Adebayor's status as Arsenal's top striker over the last two seasons, manager Arsene Wenger is keen to sell.
The Frenchman has grown tired of what he perceives to be Adebayor's poor attitude - the player's relationship with fellow forward Nicklas Bendtner is particularly bad - and has already lined up Morocco's Marouane Chamakh from Bordeaux as a replacement.
In reserve: Arsenal will move for Moroccan Marouane Chamakh from Bordeaux should Adebayor decide to accept a £25million summer switch to Eastlands
Chamakh is also interesting Sunderland, with the bidding due to start at £8m. Wenger said recently: 'We are keen on Shamakh but someone would have to leave first.'
Many Arsenal players would be glad to see the back of Adebayor, but his sale will be seen as another major blow to the club's hopes of winning the Premier League for the first time in six seasons.
Arsenal are also ready to listen to bids for midfielder Cesc Fabregas and the Gunners will surely face mutiny if they end up selling two of their top players in one summer.
Chelsea fans will also be in uproar if Terry leaves and although the 29-year-old was holding talks with his club on Monday, it would appear now that they will have to increase his pay to the £200,000 a week on offer at City if they are to stop him leaving. So far, Chelsea have refused to pay up.
Blues farewell? England captain John Terry is upset how Chelsea have handled Man City's interest
Terry has been upset by the way Chelsea have handled the situation and was unhappy new coach Carlo Ancelotti chose to speak out about the matter last week without talking to him first.
At City there is quiet confidence that England captain Terry will complete one of the transfers of the decade and also that Lescott will join him to make a new central defensive pairing.
Hughes is also continuing to monitor Arsenal defender Kolo Toure in case Terry does not come and is still on the look-out for a creative midfielder. He wants Xabi Alonso but does not think Liverpool will sell to City.
With Hughes already having signed Roque Santa Cruz and Gareth Barry this summer - both for £18m - the club could take their spending beyond £150m in the unlikely event that all their intended deals come off.
Tevez has finally moved to City after failing to agree a permanent deal with Manchester United at the end of his two-year loan spell.
Last night Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson appeared to blame Tevez for the acrimonious departure and said: 'I half expected this a long time back. I think maybe they did a deal in January because I spoke to him and gave him an offer on the Inter Milan night (March 11) and he never came back to me.
'I phoned him on holiday - he never came back to me. I texted him twice - he never got back. Obviously he had made his mind up.'
