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Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini was believed to have been on the verge of a move to Monaco at the end of last season before changing his mind at the last minute.

That’s the message emerging from an eye-opening report in The Guardian this afternoon, which suggests that the Italian was involved in three-month long negotiations with the French club, who were convinced that they had enough to persuade him to leave the current Premier League Champions.

The report suggests that the winning of the Premier League title was the decisive factor in Mancini changing his mind and it was after their last-gasp win over QPR on the final day that Monaco officials were told no move would take place.

The Guardian claims that the details of the negotiations between Monaco and Mancini were “corroborated at the highest level”, details which include a whopping contract worth €8 million a year over five years, a deal that would be financed by Monaco’s majority shareholder Dmitry Rybolovlev.

A more thorough account of the negotiations can be found in The Guardian report here, but it certainly leaves Mancini in a difficult position at a time when he’s been under the microscope for City’s poor Champions League performances and some incendiary public comments about his players.

At the time the negotiations were taking place – believed to be from January to April – City had began to cede control of the title race to Manchester United, Mancini’s position may have been under threat and he could have been looking out for his future.

On the other hand, conspiracy theorists will suggest that the fact that City sources appear to have confirmed the details of the report is evidence of a plot to undermine Mancini’s position at the club and further increase the possibility of the arrival of Pep Guardiola as their next manager, speculation that was already fuelled by the arrival of Txiki Begiristain – who worked with Guardiola at Barcelona –as City’s new Director of Football.

It remains to see how City will react to the report and what will come of it, but chances are we haven’t heard the last of it yet.