Manchester City Transfer Tracker: Coming, Going Sky Blues News and Rumours

Manchester City did your humble correspondent a huge favor this past week by doing nothing at all.

Maybe you noticed (probably you didn't), but this space under my name was dormant for a week. When your brother gets married overseas, you go. The work will always wait.

The greatest concern, of course, was that all H-E-double-hockey-sticks would break loose in the transfer market with City in the center of it during my vacation.

Instead, the Sky Blues seem to have waited patiently for my return to even think about making any moves. Thanks, men.

So let's see where the club stands on its summer endeavors now that my own passport has a few more stamps in it.

Edinson Cavani

It is probably well past time to admit that my "Cavani to City" ship has hit the rocks.

Almost every shred of recent news linking Manchester City and Edinson Cavani says the Napoli striker is more likely to go to Manchester United, Chelsea or Real Madrid. 

This very recent analysis from Simon Johnson of The Independent is at once more of the same and quite illuminating as to the Cavani saga.

"Chelsea have competition from Manchester United and Manchester City...while Real Madrid are also in the hunt," wrote Johnson.

One bit that has been somewhat underplayed is also found in Johnson's article: "It is understood that United are Cavani's first choice should he get the opportunity to move to the Premier League."

That is bad news for City, insofar as Cavani recently restated his overriding preference to play in Spain, per Kevin Palmer of ESPNFC.com.

To summarize: Cavani wants to go to Spain, but if he ends up in the Premier League, he'd rather play for United. And through it all, Chelsea have been his most desperate suitor, per The Telegraph.

It will take a small miracle to get Cavani to the Etihad next season as anything but a visiting player.

Robert Lewandowski

The light recent suggestion by The Guardian that Robert Lewandowski might still be an option for Manchester City (or any club other than Borussia Dortmund) is an eyebrow raiser.

It was not that long ago, after all, that Dortmund was steadfastly insisting that Lewandowski was going absolutely nowhere.

"Robert will definitely be playing for Borussia Dortmund next season," said Dortmund's general manager Hans-Joachim Watzke last week to Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung, as reported by The Guardian.

But here comes David Anderson of The Mirror with recent speculation about City revisiting their interest in Lewandowski: "Manchester City are ready to renew their interest in Robert Lewandowski as they begin shopping for a new striker" in the wake of losing Carlos Tevez to Juventus.

The departure of Tevez is disappointing, surely. But if City get Lewandowski, the reaction from Sky Blues faithful will as surely be "Carlos who?"

Edin Dzeko

Just as every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so too does the failure of a club to sign a coveted player impact the players already on that club.

Manchester City very recently lost out on 21-year-old phenom Isco to Real Madrid, per The Guardian.

New City boss Manuel Pellegrini, being nobody's fool, has already started building bridges back to players previously thought to be on the outs—just in case.

Per Chris Wheeler and Simon Jones of The Daily Mail, Pellegrini is "ready to call off City's pursuit of Napoli's £54m-rated striker Edinson Cavani...and give Edin Dzeko a second chance at the Etihad."

Stephen Stills said it best: If you can't be with the one you love, honey, love the one you're with.

Scott Sinclair

Scott Sinclair's difficult, troubled sojourn in Manchester may be coming to a soft and merciful end.

According to Ian Edwards of ESPNFC.com, West Bromwich Albion boss Steve Clarke "is ready to offer Manchester City misfit Scott Sinclair the chance to resurrect his career" with the Baggies.

Of course, Manchester City is probably going to have to pay fairly dearly to rid themselves of one of last summer's biggest transfer busts.

"Sinclair's current wages fall in line with the highest earners at The Hawthorns, but Albion are hopeful they can strike a deal to pay around 50% of his City wages," wrote Edwards about the possible transfer.

Q: Why is divorce so expensive?

A: Because it's worth it.

Aleksandar Kolarov

Speaking of players who should mind that the door does not hit them on the way out of the Etihad, here is the latest on Aleksandar Kolarov.

Per ESPNFC.com's Richard Jolly, "Manchester City defender Aleksandar Kolarov could leave the club in order to play regular first-team football."

Kolarov may not be the best player on City's present roster, but give him credit for this much: He can count to four.

Pablo Zabaleta, Matija Nastasic, Vincent Kompany and Gael Clichy are locks to begin the season on City's back line.

So Kolarov can stay and wait for someone to get hurt, or he can leave and make his way elsewhere. The latter seems likely.

“Money is not everything in life, and I have no problem in revising my salary. Simply, I want a place in the starting line-up," Kolarov was quoted by the ESPNFC.com piece.

See you later, then.