Roma and Manchester City Edge Closer to Dzeko Deal

Well, that didn't take long, now did it? Yesterday we discussed Edin Dzeko's attempt to coerce, subtly or otherwise, Manchester City into lowering their asking price for his services. While City has always held firm to their €30 million valuation of the out of favor 29-year-old striker, the latest reports indicate the Citizens have budged a bit in this negotiation.

Football Italia via La Gazetta dello Sport have kicked off the weekend by reporting the two clubs are close(ish) on finally brokering a deal for Dzeko. The reports claim that City has lowered their demands from €30 million down to €24 million--€18 million up front with a further €6 million in bonuses—which, though far easier to swallow than €30 million, is still a few million off from Roma's mark.

These same reports claim Walter Sabatini has raised Roma's offer to €22 million, spread out as €20 million up front and €2 million as bonuses. While this doesn't mean a deal is imminent, at least in terms of reported financial figures, this is as close as Roma and Manchester City have been since this rumor really picked up traction in June.

Taken with the news that Sabatini has captured Brazilian prodigy Gerson for €18 million (more on that later) and that Milan have upped their offer for Alessio Romagnoli to €28 million, August seems like it's going to be quite a consequential month for Roma.

Better late than never I suppose.

Updates:

Edin Dzeko fee agreed between Roma and Manchester City - sources: http://t.co/kG4eUqFcN7 #MCFC pic.twitter.com/bsIkYLFiix

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) August 1, 2015

Multiple sources, including ESPN, are now reporting that a deal has been struck, somewhere in the neighborhood of €23 million. More updates as they come.