Manchester City are competing with Spanish giants Barcelona for Bayern Munich defender David Alaba, according to reports.

City have seen their dominance of the Premier League crumble this season and look certain to surrender their title to Liverpool after an underwhelming campaign by their own high standards.

While the attacking side of their game has remained brilliant – City are still the top scorers in the division – their defence has proved costly this year following the departure of Vincent Kompany, multiple injuries to important defenders and the failure to recruit fresh quality in the summer.

As a result it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Pep Guardiola rectify his mistakes of the last transfer window and prioritise new defenders when it opens again, especially at left-back and centre-back, with a number of names – such as Ben Chilwell, Kalidou Koulibaly and Ruben Dias – already being touted.

The latest name to be linked is the versatile Alaba, who could comfortably fix City’s lack of quality in the middle of defence or on the left, and can even operate in midfield and did so brilliantly while Guardiola was his boss in Munich.

According to Sport, via SportWitness, the Blues are very interested in the Austrian international and, though they face competition with Barcelona, they would be able to meet his salary demands whereas the Catalans would not.

However, it’s also reported that the current saga surrounding Leroy Sane’s future may prevent City and Bayern from doing any dealings.