The German press claims Dzeko is set to break the Bundesliga transfer record by joining City for a fee in excess of 40million euros. City are understood to be ready to pay 30million euros (£25.6million) immediately for Dzeko and a further 5million euros (£4.3million) if the club qualifies for the Champions League. Signing-on and agents' fees would account for the rest of the cost. The Bosnian striker has made no secret of his desire to leave the German side for a bigger club and, while his dream has always been to join AC Milan, the fact the Italians have just signed Antonio Cassano from Sampdoria reduces the chances of that move coming off. However, City have the ambition to become one of Europe's top clubs and they also have the financial backing, and a transfer of Dzeko next month is looking more likely. Coach Roberto Mancini has also confirmed that he is a fan of the 24-year-old. The Wolfsburger Allgemeine newspaper quotes Mancini saying: "We have the chance to win the league this year and the decisive factor could be Edin Dzeko. "This player can decide titles and that is why we want him." Wolfsburg's managing director Dieter Hoeness is refusing to expand on the Dzeko rumours. He declined to confirm that negotiations are ongoing and stressed the striker remains under contract to Wolfsburg. "There is a transfer window approaching, players will be able to change clubs during the course of January," Hoeness told Bild. "As usual, there will be a lot of rumours and speculation every single day. "VfL Wolfsburg is not prepared to add anything to this, nor will we be out to value any rumour. "Edin Dzeko is a VfL Wolfsburg player, Edin Dzeko has a contract with our club." Dzeko is under contract until 2013 and stayed at Wolfsburg over the summer after clubs failed to meet a buy-out clause in his deal at the end of last season. He joined the Bundesliga side in 2007 and has scored 65 goals in 110 appearances, including nine in 17 league games this season. Hoeness did declare last week that his club is preparing to make major changes to the playing personnel after a disappointing first half of the season. Selling a player of Dzeko's talent may not be his preference, but the player's malaise at the 2009 Bundesliga champions, who currently seem unlikely to provide him with the chance to play in the Champions League next season, may be one of the reasons the team has not been functioning since Steve McClaren took over as coach in the summer. Bayern Munich currently hold the German transfer record with their 30million euros outlay on Mario Gomez from Stuttgart in 2009. Diego's sale from Werder Bremen to Juventus last year is the most expensive foreign sale to date at 27million euros, while he returned to the Bundesliga last summer, joining Wolfsburg for a cut-price fee of 15.5million euros. And the Wolves are set to make a huge profit on a player they signed for just four million from FK Teplice in 2007. He won the Bundesliga golden boot award last season after coming runner-up to his team mate Grafite in Wolfsburg's championship-winning year. He has already found the back of the net 10 times this season, taking his overall tally to 66 in 111 games for the Wolves.
