Manchester City & Chelsea battles to sign Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao

Manchester City are leading Chelsea in the race to sign Atletico Madrid star Radamel Falcao for €60 million in January.

Manchester City tried to sign Falcao in the summer and are willing to pay a record fee for the Colombian in the New Year, with Portuguese super agent Jorge Mendes attempting to broker the move.

A summer move failed to materialise as the club were unable to offload Edin Dzeko despite interest from AC Milan and Bayern Munich, while Carlos Tevez's return to form saw him return to favour under Roberto Mancini.

Chelsea are also huge admirers of Falcao, who has scored 42 goals in 53 appearances for Atletico Madrid including a stunning hat-trick against the Blues in his side's Uefa Supercup victory in Monaco last Friday.

But City are confident of landing their man after a 12-month long pursuit with Atletico's recent financial struggles ensuring they must listen to big-money offers for their star player.

Falcao has a €60m release clause in his Atletico Madrid contract and City believe their strong relationship with the Spanish club will help to facilitate a deal.

City eased Atletico's financial difficulties last year by paying €45m to sign Sergio Aguero, from under the noses of their great rivals Real Madrid, with most of the transfer fee paid up front.

And Roberto Mancini will be given the funds to land a marquee signing in January despite the club's conscious efforts to balance the books and comply with Uefa’s financial fair play rules.