Mancini still keen to get De Rossi at Manchester City

The English Premier League champions are reluctant to pay big money for the Roma midfielder, despite manager's hopes of landing midfielder.

AS Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi is also keen on the Manchester move.

Roberto Mancini's efforts to sign Daniele De Rossi for a third consecutive transfer window look likely to fail as Manchester City are reluctant to pay a high transfer fee for the Italian midfielder.

As he did last summer and winter, the City manager has urged his employers to reinforce in midfield by recruiting the Italy captain.

De Rossi, who turned 29 last month, would cost between €15 and €20million (Dh69-92m) to acquire from Roma and expects a contract that would equal Carlo Tevez's terms as the best paid player at City.

City are reluctant to commit such a high sum on a player with limited resale value, particularly during a summer in which they intend to buy Robin van Persie from Arsenal.

The completion of that transfer has been delayed by the difficulties football administrator Brian Marwood has encountered in offloading several highly paid members of the current squad.

Arsenal, in turn, have attempted to fuel war a bidding war between City, Manchester United and Juventus for Van Persie.

Sources close to Arsene Wenger say the manager is comfortable with retaining the striker for the coming season and making him a new contract offer ahead of the January window if external offers fail to meet Arsenal's asking price.

Meanwile, City have asked Gary Worthington to lead their scouting department following a series of senior staff departures to other Premier League clubs.

Worthington, a former Football League striker who was appointed City's Assistant Head of Player Recruitment in June 2010, succeeds Mike Rigg in the position.

Rigg, a well-regarded figure in his discipline, left City in April to become technical director at Queens Park Rangers.

His departure was followed by the close-season exits of David Fallows and Barry Hunter to Liverpool after the pair were head hunted by the club's American owners to succeed the sacked Damien Comolli.

Fallows will officially join Liverpool as head of recruitment and Hunter as chief scout once they have completed periods of gardening leave. City unsuccessfully attempted to retain the services of both.

Though the new Premier League champions were also in danger of losing Rob Newman and David Fernandez to Liverpool, they have managed to retain the pair by offering them promotions within City's recruitment department.

Newman, a former manager of Southend and Cambridge United, has been handed global scouting responsibilities, with the ex-Dundee United and Celtic striker Fernandez taking over his postion in Spain.

Worthington, 45, worked in youth development at Leeds United before Frank Arnesen invited him to join Chelsea's scouting team in 2005.

He played a central role in the recruitment of teenage midfielders Tom Taiwo and Michael Woods from his former club, who reported Chelsea to the Football Association for illegal approaches and ultimately extracted £5million in compensation for the pair.

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