Mancini in swoop for former Red Veron

MANCHESTER City coach Roberto Mancini is set to test the loyalty of his team’s keenest fans by trying to sign a 34-year-old former Manchester United player.

Mancini is already close to completing a deal for France captain Patrick Vieira, and now wants to add Juan Sebastian Veron to the City ranks.

Veron is a former team-mate of Mancini’s from their playing days at Lazio and he has offered the player a lucrative one-year deal to see out his career back in Manchester.

The deal for Veron would cost City over €15m, with the club prepared to offer his club Estudiantes €7.8m to sign the iconic player, and the same amount on offer to Veron in salary.

Argentina’s La Plata-based newspaper Hoy reported that Veron initially turned down the opportunity to try his luck again in the Premier League, but is currently giving the offer more thought as his transfer fee would cover the Estudiantes budget for the next 10 years.

Veron began his career at Estudiantes in 1994 and has enjoyed a renaissance since rejoining them from Chelsea in 2007. The midfielder, who cost United £28m on joining from Lazio in 2001, was voted South American Player of the Season for 2008 and 2009 and last season inspired Estudiantes to their first Copa Libertadores win since 1970. Estudiantes last month played in the Club World Cup final, narrowly losing 2-1 to Barcelona in extra-time.

Veron’s performances also led to a recall to the national side, for whom he had not played since 2007.

But new coach Diego Maradona picked him for his first competitive match in charge, a 4-0 win over Venezuela, and Veron has been a mainstay of the Argentina side since.

That is in stark contrast to Vieira, who only completed six 90-minute matches in the whole of 2009, and has lost his place in the France squad.

Raymond Domenech has said he would find it difficult to ignore Vieira in his World Cup if he was fit and playing regularly. But Vieira is now 33 and the last time he started over 10 league games in one season was in 2006-07. It’s clear that Mancini is looking to add some experience to the City squad and while the Veron swoop may cause surprise among those fans who remember his dismal spell at Old Trafford, at least the Argentine brings with him a guarantee of fitness. That’s more than can be said for Vieira.

Veron’s agent Miguel Pires confirmed the offer in an interview with Radio La Red last night.

“Yesterday we were at a reunion with the president and the vice-president of Estudiantes, when Sebastian said: ‘Roberto Mancini called me earlier today and said, ‘Hello Sebastian, I have a fax in my hand, but I don’t know Estudiantes’ fax number. Could you help me? By the way, it is an offer for you: £7m for Estudiantes and the same for you for one-year contract. I have already talked with Man City’s owner and he said, ‘Go for him’.

“It was really surprising for us, and I thought Sebastian was joking, but he was not at all. I will do what you want,” Sebastian told the president.

“Estudiantes don’t want to let him go, and that is why I think he is going to say no, but we don’t know for sure.”