SHOWING HIS HAND ... Roberto Mancini
ROBERTO MANCINI has revealed Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani and Radamel Falcao top his summer transfer wishlist.
The Manchester City boss admits he is desperate to bring in a frontman next window with Europe’s most deadly hitmen on his radar.
Asked about Napoli’s Cavani, Mancini said: “I like him, but all the world wants him. There are big players. I don’t know what can happen.
“Suarez plays for a top team like Liverpool. Cavani plays for Napoli. There’s Falcao but, again, all the managers like him.
“Neymar is a good player, he’s young, but I don’t know if he’s ready to play in England because the football is totally different.
“I think he will go to Barcelona or Madrid where the football is more technical.
“But Cavani and Falcao would work in England. They have experience.
“Both players are 26, 27. They are good enough to play in England.”
Mancini was left seething last summer when the Premier League champions failed to bring in his top targets including Robin van Persie.
And with City trailing rivals Manchester United by 12 points with just 12 games to go, the Italian once again reiterated his view that failing to land the Dutchman could have cost them the title.
TOP TARGET ... Roberto Mancini would love to sign Napoli's Edinson Cavani
Mancini said: “It’s important to realise we have made some mistakes. I have made some mistakes and the players have made some mistakes.
“But the first reason is because we didn’t do what we should have done in the summer transfer market – we worked really badly in the market.
“We are fighting against a team like United who are used to winning every year. We don’t have their experience.
“We need to work hard, every day, every week, because we need to improve. But it’s the same in the transfer market.
“We worked badly and I don’t know why because when you win the league that is the moment to bring in another two or three top players to improve the mentality.
“New players want to show they are better than the old players and it means the old players have to play better than the previous year. Instead, we didn’t do it.
“Football is full of this history. You win the title, then you think it’s enough to play 50 per cent and you don’t arrive the next year.
“It’s always more difficult to retain the league than win it. We arrived at the top. The problem is to stay there a long time. You do that only if your mentality is strong.”
On RVP, Mancini admitted: “This is the difference. Only this. We are missing 10 to 15 goals.
“We score those goals and it’s worth another eight or nine points. And Van Persie is a United player.”
BLAST ... Roberto Mancini has criticised Samir Nasri's displays this term
Mancini insists he is not afraid to drop any of his big stars if they fail to perform.
And the former Inter Milan manager singled out Samir Nasri as one player who has not been firing on all cylinders this term.
Mancini said: “I think Samir has fantastic qualities. With his quality, he should always play well. Every game he could be the difference.
“A player of this quality could be one of the best players in Europe. But it’s not happening.
“Sometimes a player thinks it’s enough what they did the year before and doesn’t understand that every day they should improve.
“If you are a top player you know you can improve until the last day of your career but sometimes you get players who think it is not important to work and this is their worst mistake.
“Samir can do better than this year. He is a top player but he has not been playing at his level.”
Joe Hart is another player who has come in for criticism — most recently for his blunder that gifted Southampton their second goal in their shock 3-1 win over City a fortnight ago.
Mancini added: “Listen, I believed in Joe when nobody else did.
“I put him in the goal when everybody thought it was impossible that he could play ahead of Shay Given, who at that time was one of the best goalkeepers in Europe. I love Joe.
“If not, I wouldn’t have put him in the team two years ago.
“But it’s simple. If Joe continues to make mistakes, he goes on the bench.
“I’ve done it with Samir, David Silva and Carlos Tevez this season and it can happen with Joe.
“The problem is the goalkeeper makes a mistake, we have lost the game. Joe has the quality to be the best goalkeeper anywhere.
“He is the best goalkeeper in England but in the situation Manchester City are in, if you want to stay at the top, you need to work hard and think only about football.
“He needs to think only of his job and that is being a goalkeeper.”
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