Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini feels the next five days will define their season. He has been pursuing Atletico Bilbao's Javi Martinez, Stevan Jovetic of Fiorentina and Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi and believes City must act if they want to retain their title.

"We need to bring players in and we have five days in which to do it," said Mancini, who has ruled out a move for Liverpool defender Daniel Agger, who was the subject of a £20million bid from City earlier this month.

"We have to work hard in these four or five days. It will be a long week for us. Yes (it will decide how we perform) we have our targets and we will go for them in the next five days."