Manchester City could be set for a transfer battle with Liverpool over the services of Sevilla defender Diego Carlos.

Both clubs are looking for a centre-back, with doubts surrounding the long-term future of City's John Stones and the exit of Liverpool's Dejan Lovren.

Lovren sealed a £10.9m move to Zenit St Petersburg this week, leaving Jurgen Klopp with three senior centre-backs - Joel Matip, Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk.

Meanwhile, Stones' contract runs out in 2020 at The Etihad and there has been no movement on a new deal.

The Liverpool coach refuses to publicly talk about transfers, but he is thought to be looking to replace the Croatian this summer.

A number of names have been thrown into the fray including Napoli kingpin Kalidou Koulibaly, Schalke's Ozan Kabak and Sevilla star Carlos.

Spanish news outlet El Desmarque reported Liverpool's interest in Carlos in January.

Marca also reported that Sevilla were "looking forward" to making significant capital gain on Carlos this summer.

Since then Goal claimed Sevilla have received two significant bids from English clubs. The first offer arrived a month ago, with the second coming in the last few weeks.

- TEAMtalk media