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Fernandinho was so desperate to join City that he paid a £4million chunk of his own transfer fee!

The Brazilian midfielder was unveiled as the Blues’ first signing of the summer yesterday, with his former club Shakhtar Donetsk holding out for a huge £34million deal.

But when it looked like the move might stall over the Ukrainian club’s demands, Fernandinho offered to forego £4million he was owed by Shakhtar in order to ouch the move through, meaning City ended up paying £30million.

That broke the deadlock, and the 28-year-old flew into Manchester on Wednesday to have a medical, where he was spotted checking in to the private Bridgewater Hospital in Whalley Range.

He completed the move yesterday by signing a five-year deal, to bring to an end a trabsfer saga which began before the January transfer window.

The Shakhtar midfielder, a key player in a team which has won six of the last eight Ukrainian titles, wresting dominance from Dynamo Kiev, was identified by City football director Txiki Begiristain as a target during their Champions League campaign.

City first put out feelers from him six months ago, but Shakhtar have played hard ball from the first day, initially insisting on the full release fee written into his contract, of £42.5million.

Fernandinho pleaded with Shakhtar to let him go, as he wanted to play in the Premier League and enhance his own ambitions of representing Brazil in next summer’s World Cup, as well as enjoy a higher wage with the Blues.

When Shakhtar refused to budge, the player began tweeting links to online articles which argued that he and City would be a good fit, and he also took to re-tweeting messages of support and goodwill from Blues fans.

Shakhtar were unmoved, although they dropped their asking price to £34million – and that is when Fernandinho came up with his trump card.

“I got a reply from my previous club, Shakhtar Donetsk, and they didn’t want to sell me at any price,” he said. “I told them I had a dream to play in a higher league than the Ukrainian league.

“It was a battle over the last few months but thank God everything worked out well and I’m here to be part of this club.”

City have already agreed a deal to bring in Spain winger Jesus Navas, but that fee is not as high as previously thought - he will cost an initial £15million, rising to a possible £18million with another add-on if he is sold at a profit or signs another long-term deal.

City are set to announce the appointment of new manager Manuel Pellegrini early next week, while they are still pursuing deals for Maklaga midfielder Isco, Napoli striker Edinson Cavani and Real Madrid defender Pepe