Manchester City have lined up Real Madrid midfielder Mateo Kovacic as an alternative transfer target to Jorginho, according to Marca, via the Manchester Evening News. 

What's the story, then?

Napoli playmaker Jorginho has reportedly been close to joining City for days now but the MEN report that Pep Guardiola has moved the Real Madrid into his sights as a backup option.

They also claim that the Croatian international, who has helped his country qualify for the last 16 of the World Cup with a game to spare, wants more regular gametime at the Bernabeu.

They say that Kovacic - valued at £27m by Transfermarkt - is willing to leave to get the gametime he requires and that makes him a viable second choice if the delays over the capture of Jorginho persist.

Kovacic would also add quality at City

Jorginho is a classy playmaker, another player who would improve under Guardiola and help fill the void left by Yaya Toure, but so is Kovacic.

He would be a regular at most other clubs in Europe but it is just that Madrid's midfield talent is so vast that he has to be content with a backup role for the time being.

Guardiola is sure to know that himself and he won't be too bothered which of the pair he secures as they will likely only be very strong backups in the league's best squad.

[brid autoplay="true" video="258359" player="12034" title="The World Cup Twitter Report"]