CITY IN pounds 25M BAYWATCH; TRANSFERS BOSS HUGHES SWOOPS.

Byline: JOHN CROSS

ARSENAL are demanding pounds 25million for Emmanuel Adebayor after Manchester City put the Togo striker at the top of their hit-list.

Big-spending City made a direct approach to Arsenal yesterday after missing out on Samuel Eto'o and being quoted pounds 40m by Sevilla for their Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is desperate to offload Adebayor and has got Bordeaux's Marouane Chamakh lined up as a pounds 6m replacement. Ade-bayor25, would prefer a move to Italy and wants to go to AC Milan.

But the Italian giants are confident they will beat City to sign Fabiano, who would prefer to go to the San Siro ahead of Eastlands.

It leaves Adebayor mulling over a move to Eastlands after City's hierarchy gave the striker the hard-sell. They have told Arsenal they are ready to pay pounds 20m but the Blues may be willing to compromise.

City have promised Adebayor a five-year deal worth pounds 150,000-aweek which is nearly twice his current salary.

They have also told him he will be their first choice to partner Carlos Tevez who has completed a pounds 25.5m deal, with Robinho playing wide and Roque Santa Cruz likely to start the campaign on the bench.

City executive chairman Garry Cook, due to fly to Abu Dhabi tomorrow before joining the club's pre-season tour in South Africa, has a good relationship with Arsenal from his days at Nike.

That also goes for Cook's right-hand man Brian Marwood, a former Arsenal winger and Nike executive, who is being put in direct charge of brokering the deal for Adebayor which leaves City confident they can pull it off.

Arsenal would prefer to sell Adebayor abroad but, with little or no interest from AC and Inter Milan, they are now ready to do a deal with City. Adebayor has become unpopular with Arsenal fans after publicly admitting last summer he wanted to leave when AC Milan and Barcelona were keen on signing him.

He was jeered at the start of the season after signing a new deal to stay but is regarded as a big-head in the Arsenal dressing room and is not universally popular among his teammates.

Mirror Sport revealed last week Arsenal fans have even launched their own Michael Owen-style brochure to try and sell Adebayor.

But that has not put off City from continuing their incredible spending spree, having bought Gareth Barry, Santa Cruz and Tevez.

City will also pursue Everton defender Joleon Lescott for pounds 15m whether or not they get Chelsea captain John Terry.

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BIG PLANS Mark Hughes MY BLUE HEAVEN City look to add Adebayor to their growing squad of big-name players