Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has claimed Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling would cost the champions a world record fee.
Sterling’s contract negotiations with the Merseyside club continue to stall with the England international’s representatives said to be holding out for a bigger deal than offered.
The winger has been linked with a move away from Anfield since, having received interest from Spanish duo Real Madrid and Barcelona and fellow English side Man City.
And, City boss Pellegrini has claimed that any such deal to bring the former Queens Park Rangers to the Etihad stadium would cost £100m.
The former Real Madrid coach said: ‘Can you get Sterling? Maybe if you go to Liverpool with £100m you can. If I want an English player in the position of [David] Silva who is there? Maybe [Wayne] Rooney, but who else?
‘It is important to have English players but can you sign them? You are talking about trying to sign players from clubs that won’t sell them. Let’s say you want to buy [Luke] Shaw, £35m for a left back.
‘I’m not sure about spending that much money when we have [Gael] Clichy and [Aleksandar] Kolarov.’