Manchester City have agreed a fee for Swansea City's Wilfried Bony of £25m rising to £28m (€32m to €36m), with the striker to sign a four-and-a-half year deal worth £100,000 (€128,000) a week. Bony's recruitment means Manuel Pellegrini will also have to drop one of his 16 allocated overseas players from the club's Champions League squad.

The 26-year-old has been bought after Pellegrini decided he needed a fourth frontline striker, and because he is also concerned about the injury records of the other three, Sergio Agüero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic.

Asked about the issue on Friday, Pellegrini said: "The injuries was part of the decision, because we had too many injuries. It's normal strikers are more injured than other players especially here in England where you need strong footballers and it's physical football, That's why I said last year, and this year also, we need a fourth striker."

As City bid to defend the title, win the FA Cup and progress in the Champions League, in which they next meet Barcelona in the last 16, Pellegrini believes a fourth striker could be vital. "I think it's important you have the squad you think you need. Last season we had four strikers, and the four strikers were useful to win the title.

“You cannot say that because you are bringing in another striker you are going to win. But in the first part of the season it’s important to analyse and I assure you that we need a fourth striker that we are bringing in. If that striker will help we suppose we are going to be a strong squad with him. It’s very important for all players to have competition because they have their best performance when they have important competition.”

Of which player Pellegrini might drop from the Champions League squad, he said: “We will take that decision in February, three or four days before we start the Champions League again so at that moment we will see which player will be out of the squad.” Guardian Service