'City got in touch with us'

Confirmation in Saturday's Guardian from Valencia President Manuel Llorente that we have been in touch to negotiate for David Silva:

"The news is true," the Valencia president, Manuel Llorente, said. "City got in touch with us to ask for a meeting but then they informed us that they could not come and that they intend to do so a little further down the line."

The reason for the postponement is not clear but there have been preliminary talks about rearranging for next week and the fact Valencia appear willing to entertain City's two main negotiators suggests the Spanish club would let the player go, providing the price is right. "We would not sell for below €30m (£25.6m)," Llorente said.

This shows how serious we are about Silva. But our buying him or not will not be dependant upon negotiating a fee with Valencia. It hinges on Silva's enthusiasm to trade Valencia, and a potential move to Real Madrid or Barcelona in the near future, for Manchester City. And that sounds like a strange move.