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Manchester City are poised to pull out of the chase for Napoli striker Edinson Cavani and focus their fire on brilliant Spain Under-21 star Isco.

The Blues have baulked at the £53million asking price for Uruguay star Cavani, and are preparing to leave the field clear for the striker to join Real Madrid.

And they hope that will exhaust Madrid’s transfer budget for the summer, and leave them as firm favourites to grab £30m-rated Isco, who helped Spain become European Under-21 champions on Wednesday night.

New boss Manuel Pellegrini has told City chief executive Ferran Soriano and football director Txiki Begiristain that he believes Edin Dzeko could thrive in the system he intends to introduce at City.

And that means the pursuit of Cavani has cooled, although City will still monitor the availability of a man who has scored 104 goals in the last three seasons.

The Blues are banking on the belief that Madrid – who also want Gareth Bale – cannot afford all three players in a summer where economic austerity is sweeping Spain, and with UEFA’s financial fair play rules set to kick in this season.

It means City are rapidly giving up on the idea that they could bag both Cavani and Isco, and Pellegrini appears calm on the possibility that he could end up with the same three strikers as last season – Dzeko, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez.

Tevez now appears to be the most likely to leave, as City would rather cash in now than lose him for nothing when his contract expires next summer with AC Milan and Juventus both keen on the Argentine.

One player poised to move on is Roque Santa Cruz, set to move to Hamburg on a two-year deal.

Are City right to ditch their pursuit of Cavani? Have your say.