AS Monaco lure Mancini with 170m pound transfer kitty

London: Second tier French club AS Monaco is eyeing to bring Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini at the club. Its Russian billionaire owner Dmitry Rybolovlev is set to offer a 170 million pound transfer kitty to the Italian in order to lure him to the Monte Carlo based club.

The Russian, who is ranked as 97th richest man in the world, wants to take French side out of the second division and back to Champions League and he tried to lure the former Inter Milan boss to the Cote d’Azur. Now, Rybolovlev has returned with a stunning new offer of that vast kitty for signings, plus a three-year deal worth 22-million pounds in wages. After winning the title last year, Mancini agreed a new deal until 2017, but his side is out of Europe, way behind leaders Manchester United in the league and has only the FA Cup to play for this season. Mancini was furious at losing out to United over Arsenal`s Robin van Persie in last summer’s transfer window, and it the Dutch striker’s goals that look set to see neighbours United regain the Premier League title. While Mancini insists he retains the support of City owner Sheikh Mansour, their failure to progress from the group stage of the Champions League for the second year running was a major disappointment for the club, Monaco is poised to gain promotion from Ligue 2 under the guidance of Claudio Ranieri, who only took over last summer. ANI