Manchester City are keeping tabs on Girona left-back Miguel Gutierrez, according to Relevo.com.

The Spanish website claims that the Premier League champions are “monitoring” the defender’s situation, after an excellent first half of the season.

Girona are owned by the City Football Group so that could give Pep Guardiola’s side an advantage over other clubs in the battle to secure Gutierrez’s signature.

Relevo say that Arsenal are watchng the fullback “closely”, along with Bayern Munich. However, Real Madrid, are expected to be the most immediate threat.

The 14-time Champions League winners have a buyback clause worth just €8m (£6.9m), after originally selling Gutierrez to Girona in August last year.

City would have to pay a lot more to sign the player

Despite the strong links between the two clubs, it is believed that City would have to pay Girona €35m (£30m) if they wanted to secure Gutierrez’s services ahead of Real and other teams.

That figure is said to be the left-back’s release clause, so it remains to be seen whether the Cityzens would be tempted to recruit the Spanish Under 21 international for that price.

Gutierrez is not the only young left-back that City are pursuing

Another option that the Manchester club have been looking at is Boca Juniors’ Valentin Barco. The teenager would be a lot cheaper than Gutierrez.

The wingback has a $10m (£8m) buyout clause, which can be triggered when the transfer window reopens in January. In terms of whether Barco or Gutierrez would be the better target, it is up for debate.

On the one hand, Barco has already played in a Copa Libertadores final (South America’s equivalent of the Champions League) but he has never played in Europe. Gutierrez, meanwhile, would cost more but he has been a regular starter for the last 18 months in La Liga.