Last Updated: Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:53
Manchester City are following the progress of Steaua Bucharest's Romanian international centre back Vlad Chiriches.
City watched the 22-year-old in action against Chelsea last week and are set to have a scout at Stamford Bridge to make another check on the defender during the second leg this Thursday.
Reports have claimed that City are looking to Chiriches to be the replacement for Kolo Toure who looks set to move on in the summer and he would cost a fraction of the Ivorian's wage package as he is yet to hit the big time.
Chiriches came to many clubs attention when he scored a screamer for Steaua in their 2-0 Europa League win over Ajax last month, but his defensive work is similarly impressive.
He impressed on his first competitive start for Romania against France in 2011 when he kept Karim Benzema quiet in a 0-0 draw and is now a regular for the Romanian national side, who he has helped keep three clean sheets in their qualifying campaign for Brazil 2014.
City are aware his price-tag is going up all the time and are keen to secure a deal before the end of the season.
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