Manchester City's Emmanuel Adebayor a target for Zenit St Petersburg
• Russian club have made initial inquiry for 27-year-old
• City will let striker go if Zenit make suitable offer
Emmanuel Adebayor spent the second half of last season on loan at Real Madrid from Manchester City. Photograph: Javier Soriano/AFP/Getty Images
Emmanuel Adebayor is a target for Zenit St Petersburg and will be allowed to leave Manchester City if the Russian club produce a suitable offer for a player who appears to have no future at Eastlands under Roberto Mancini.
Adebayor's difficult relationship with Mancini led to him joining Real Madrid on loan midway through last season and City are hoping to arrange a permanent deal to get the striker off their books.
Zenit are the first club to register a serious interest and City are waiting to hear whether the Russians will follow up their initial inquiries with a firm offer for a player who cost £25m when he signed from Arsenal two years ago. City will have to accept a substantial loss on the 27-year-old but there remains little desire to keep Adebayor at the club regardless of the uncertainty surrounding Carlos Tevez's position.
Adebayor has not helped his case with a series of critical newspaper interviews and the club are keen to reduce their wage bill at a time when they are trying to fit into Uefa's financial fair-play regulations, a consideration that means England's wealthiest club will not be embarking on the kind of spending spree that has previously occurred under the ownership of the Abu Dhabi United Group.
Up to a dozen players could leave Eastlands this summer and it is the club's refusal to pay over the odds for their main target, Alexis Sánchez, that partly explains why they might be unsuccessful in luring him away from Udinese. A delegation from City has been trying to rescue the deal over the last 48 hours but might be facing a losing battle against Barcelona.
Manchester United, who could feasibly outspend their neighbours this summer, also face disappointment concerning one of their targets, with Raphael Varane expected to sign a five-year contract at Real Madrid.
Lens have received bids from United, Madrid and Paris St-Germain, but the 18-year-old is wary of moving to Old Trafford because of the competition for centre-half places now Phil Jones has joined a club where there is already Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, plus Chris Smalling and Jonny Evans in reserve.
Varane has been to Madrid to meet his potential new employers and the teenager was particularly impressed by the way Zinedine Zidane, now a member of José Mourinho's support staff at the Bernabéu, showed him around the city.
