Manchester City first-team coach Fausto Salsano believes Napoli forward Ezequiel Lavezzi is ready for the Premier League, but has ruled out a swap deal involving Mario Balotelli and says the club will not make a move for him while they have a full complement of strikers.
Lavezzi has been linked with a switch to the Etihad Stadium along with his Napoli team-mates Edinson Cavani and Marek Hamsik following a series of impressive performances over the past couple of seasons.
Salsano feels Lavezzi would be the best equipped of the trio to take English football by storm and rates the Argentine among the best frontmen on the planet.
The City coach says there are no plans at the moment to try and bring in Lavezzi, although he does not know what might happen in the future.
Roberto Mancini currently has a wealth of attacking options at his disposal and there will only be new arrivals if somebody leaves.
Balotelli's agent recently sparked rumours of an exchange with Lavezzi before making it clear that no such deal was in the offing, and Salsano has also stressed that City have no desire to let the Italian go.
He told Radio Kiss Kiss: "Who among Lavezzi, Cavani and Hamsik is ready for the Premier League? They are three important players with qualities that can play anywhere.
"Lavezzi in particular has important qualities because he is good in one on one situations, he's fast, he's clever and he could do very well in England.
"The Balotelli-Lavezzi exchange? Mario is one of the strongest strikers in Europe and worldwide at this time.
"For us he is a very important player and will not leave Manchester City. We believe very much in him.
"However, Lavezzi is proving to be one of the best strikers around the world."
Asked if Lavezzi might come in if Carlos Tevez were to leave City, Salsano refused to speculate on what could happen.
"In place of Tevez? I don't know, at this moment we are full," said Salsano.
"We have very strong forwards and you may not know now about the future, we look only at the present."
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