Manchester City are ready to move for Hamburg centre-half Jerome Boateng.

The Daily Star Sunday says City, having just snapped up Patrick Vieira on a free from Inter Milan, have opened talks in the last few days for the Hamburg centre-half, who is valued at £15million.

But if the deal is delayed until the summer it is believed that Boateng, 21, has a clause in his contract which would allow him to leave for around £10m.

Berlin-born Boateng who has just broken into the German national team after being a regular in the Under-21s, is under contract with Hamburg for another two years.

But talks on a new deal with the Bundesliga club have stalled, alerting City to the availability of one of the new stars in Germany.