Man City ahead of Chelsea to sign Atletico star Falcao for £50m

Manchester City look to be in the `pole position` to sign Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao in a 50 million-pound bid after the Colombian striker said that he does not want to join Chelsea.

City boss Roberto Mancini`s hopes of bringing in Falcao to the Etihad were boosted by reports claiming that the 50 million-pound rated striker has told his club that he is not open to a move to Stamford Bridge, which is reportedly the biggest threat to City in the battle to land Falcao.

Mancini is a long-term admirer of the Atletico front-man and will not want a repeat of last summer when he missed out on a host of top targets to Chelsea in the race to sign Edin Hazard.

Presumably with Carlos Tevez and Edin Dzeko set to follow Mario Balotelli out of City, the search for striking reinforcements has already started.

City is ready to undertake a major overhaul of their squad after failing to keep up with the pace being set by Manchester United at the top of the Premier League