Citizens boss admits striker needs regular first team football.
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has slapped a €20m (£17.4m) price tag on coveted forward Edin Dzeko.
The 26-year-old has been linked with a move away from Eastlands in recent weeks, despite being the club’s top scorer this season.
Dzeko has been in and out of the first team for the Premier League Champions but has scored 13 goals in all competitions, and 12 in just 11 league starts.
The Bosnia and Herzogovina international cost City £27m when he arrived from Wolfsburg in summer 2011 and the powerful forward has been linked with a move back to the Bundesliga, with Champions Borussia Dortmund.
Robert Lewandowski is reportedly likely to leave Dortmund for Bayern Munich at the end of the season and the club want Dzeko to replace the Poland international.
Mancini admitted Dzeko needs regular football and believes the striker could be a big success in the Serie A.
But the tactician said any club in his homeland wishing to sign the player would have to pay €20m.
“We haven’t spoken about the transfer market because there are 10 games to go but in June anything can happen,” the former Inter Milan boss is quoted as saying by the Sport Review.
“For me, Dzeko is a great player but he is the type of footballer who needs to play all the time. In Italy he could score 20 goals a season but he would cost someone €20m (£17.4m) and maybe more.”
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