Man City sign French defender Mangala

MANCHESTER: Manchester City on Monday announced the signing of France central defender Eliaquim Mangala from FC Porto.

The 23-year-old Paris-born Mangala becomes the sixth signing of the summer, and will quickly re-join his old Porto teammate Fernando at the Etihad Stadium. "City is a top club in Europe. For me, it was an important step to leave Porto and join Manchester City in order to continue my progress. I want to win titles and I believe I can do this. I am ambitious and this is why I am here," Mangala said. "I´m very happy to come to England because for me, the Premier League is the best league in the world. It is a very intense and very aggressive competition. There are plenty of goals, so it is also really nice to watch and I can´t wait to get started. The fact that Fernando is here is better because I played with him at Porto but there is also other players that I know like (Bacary) Sagna, (Gael) Clichy and (Samir) Nasri."

City manager Manuel Pellegrini added: "I´m delighted to have added a player of Eliaquim´s quality in the squad ahead of the new season. He is already a fine player but in my opinion, he has all of the mental, physical, technical and tactical attributes to become one of Europe´s very best defenders. Eliaquim is a player I believe will make an immediate impact in the Premier League, thanks to his physicality, his reading of the game and quality on the ball. I think he will prove to be a great signing for us."

Mangala made his France debut in a 1-0 defeat to Uruguay in Montevideo in June 2013.

Although included in the World Cup squad, the defender didn´t make it off the bench in France´s run to the quarter-finals. (AFP)