Manchester City have made a bold move for Santos star Neymar. The Telegraph says City sporting director Txiki Begiristain flew to Brazil last week for talks to sign Neymar.

Begiristain spent two days in South America to open discussions to buy the 20-year-old striker at the end of the season, which would be a bold shake-up to their strike-force and raise further question marks over the future of Mario Balotelli.

City are aware they will face strong competition from Barcelona should Neymar's club Santos finally be persuaded to sell. Chelsea and Real Madrid have also previously thought they had agreements to sign Neymar, who is valued at around £32m (40m euros), only for the deals to stall.