Manchester City have reportedly made a move towards trying to sign Sergi Roberto from Barcelona, according to reports from Spain.

Mundo Deportivo claimed that director of football Txiki Begiristain has made enquiries to the La Liga club about the 28-year-old, with the approval of City manager Pep Guardiola, under whom the versatile Spain international has previously played at Camp Nou.

Roberto, who is valued at £36m by TransferMarkt and has won two Champions League titles with Barcelona, has the vast experience of playing 273 times for the La Liga champions, with 29 of those games coming this season as he has been a regular presence in their starting XI (as per TransferMarkt).

A midfielder by trade, the 28-year-old has been deployed mainly at right-back in recent months - coincidentally the position in which Nelson Semedo, who has also been linked with Manchester City (Sport,via Sport Witness), regularly features.

Roberto has an excellent passing success rate of 91.2%, which puts him ahead of Guardiola's current right-backs Joao Cancelo (89.4%) and Kyle Walker (88.9%) in that regard. He also wins more tackles per game than the Englishman (1.2 to one), while they both average one interception per game.

However, Cancelo has a far better tackling average with 2.3 per game and also makes more interceptions per match with 1.4. Additionally, the Etihad Stadium duo have far greater attacking instincts than the Barcelona man. Roberto's match averages of 0.2 shots and 0.5 successful dribbles pale in comparison with the respective figures put up by Cancelo (0.7 shots, 1.6 successful dribbles) and Walker (0.6 shots, 0.9 successful dribbles).

While Roberto would present Guardiola with a versatile option at right-back and central midfield, he does not seem an upgrade on the current right-sided defensive pair of Walker and Cancelo. Indeed, the latter has been reportedly considered as bait in a potential swap deal with Semedo (Mundo Deportivo, via Sport Witness), which seems difficult to comprehend given Cancelo's more than respectable statistics from this season.

At £36m, 28 years of age and in a position where Manchester City are already well stocked, the Premier League champions ought to be looking elsewhere to bolster their squad over the summer.

Man City fans, are you surprised that the club are reportedly pursuing a move for Sergi Roberto? Comment below with your views!