Manchester City are reportedly planning to make an offer for Saint-Etienne defender Kurt Zouma.
According to Goal.com, the Premier League outfit's chief executive Ferran Soriano and sporting director Txiki Begiristain are keen admirers of the 19-year-old centre-back and want to add him to the squad as early as January.
City are hopeful that an offer of around £10m will be enough for Saint-Etienne to part with the France Under-21 international and have already held initial talks with the French club.
The Eastlands club's chief scout Gary Worthington has been monitoring Zouma closely this season and believes that his arrival will boost the team's defensive options that have been limited this season because of injuries to Vincent Kompany, Matija Nastasic, Micah Richards and Martin Demichelis at various stages of the campaign.
Zouma is currently serving a 10-match ban for his tackle on Sochaux's Thomas Guerber in a Ligue 1 match earlier this month that broke the midfielder's leg.
