The manager of Manchester City, Manuel Pellegrini, will probably be looking to secure the services of the Real Madrid defender Pepe again during the upcoming mid-season transfer window. Pellegrini had tried to do that during the pre-season transfer window as well, but, he hadn’t succeeded.

Manchester City hasn’t lived up to the expectations in the ongoing Premier League so far. Their defense, in particular, has looked pretty fragile and that’s because their main defender and skipper Vincent Kompany has been largely unavailable.

Pellegrini’s main focus this January will be to strengthen the defense of his team and the man who is still believed to be at the top of his list is Pepe. There have been a few reports that Madrid is looking to give Pepe a contract extension, but, if City goes to them with a good offer in January, they might change their mind and let the 30 years old Brazilian leave.

Pepe had signed for Madrid 6 years back. Los Blancos had bought him from the Portuguese club FC Porto after paying a transfer fee of 30 million Euros.

During Pepe’s tenure at Santiago Bernabeu so far, Madrid has lifted the La Liga trophy a couple of times and in both those campaigns, the Brazilian centre-back was the standout performer for them.

Pepe has played under the guidance of Pellegrini when the latter was in charge at Madrid during the 2009-10 Season. The tuning between these two was believed to be pretty good and one should not be surprised if Pellegrini eventually manages to land Pepe at the Etihad Stadium this January.
Pepe has played all his football outside England so far. After spending the first few years of his senior career in Portugal, he had made a move to Spain in July 2007.