Manchester City are interested in signing Real Madrid defender Raul Albiol in the summer transfer window. Raul Albiol was signed by the previous Real Madrid manager from Valencia in a £ 24 million deal.

However, he has been largely marginalised from the first team since the arrival of José Mourinho from Inter Milan.

The arrival of Ricardo Carvalho from Chelsea has meant that first-team opportunities has been limited for Raul Albiol, who is the first team player for the Spanish national team. As a result, he seems to have expressed his desire to leave the club if the situation does not improve until the end of the season.

Manchester City are one of the club's interested in signing the defender. Manchester city have emerged as one of the greatest clubs in the world after the arrival of cashrich Abu Dhabi owners of years ago.

They have been targeting some of the best players in the world and it seems that the target has now turned towards Raul Albiol. Despite the presence of many defenders at Manchester City, it seems that manager Roberto Mancini is not entirely satisfied with the members at his disposal. The major weak link currently in the Manchester City defence is Joleon Lescott, and the arrival of Raul Albiol is expected to plug this gap.

So far, the 26-year-old Spanish international has made just five appearances for Real Madrid. Even more concerning is the fact that he has made most of the appearances in meaningless domestic cup matches. According to the latest football betting odds online, Albiol is at evens to be playing at the Etihad stadium next year.

Real Madrid's main target this season is to win the la Liga title back from Barcelona and also to make great inroads into the European campaign as well. Real Madrid are currently ahead of Barcelona in the domestic campaign by seven points, while they are into the last 16 of the Champions League as well.