After their £49 million acquisition of Raheem Sterling from Liverpool, Manchester City is reportedly eyeing VfL Wolfsburg winger Kevin De Bruyne next.
City was allegedly willing to pay a transfer fee of £60 million, which would break the current British record of £59.7 million paid by Manchester United to Real Madrid last summer for Ángel Di María, as per the Mirror.
Manuel Pellegrini had always been fond of the 24-year-old attacking midfielder, especially after he scored 10 goals and assisted a Germany record 21 times for the Wolves last season, but there were no reports of any offers from the Citizens side until now.
The intention is reportedly mutual with De Bruyne as the Belgium international had already talked with Die Wölfe's coach Dieter Hecking that he wanted a transfer to England after less than two years of being with the Bundesliga squad.
The Premier League club reportedly has "substantial war chest" to acquire De Bruyne even after the mega-buck signing of Sterling earlier this month.
French champions Paris Saint-Germain were also rumored to be interested in the Drongen native, but their recent £45.4 million signing of Di María from United made them lose their interest on De Bruyne altogether.
Meanwhile, Daily Mail Online indicated that Hecking said there were no offers received from the Etihad giants to date.
"We have no offer from Manchester City. No offer from anybody. Full stop," the 50-year-old German manager said. "There is nothing from my side to say, there is no official offer in to Wolfsburg. He has been very good with me. I'm not here to talk about contractual matters, he has no clause but that isn't a question for us."