New City boss Manuel Pellegrini is planning to steal a march on Chelsea and their bitter rivals across town, Manchester United, who both want Mangala, 22.
The French defender revealed that City made a late approach for him just before Monday's transfer deadline.
But Porto said that the move was too late for them and would leave them without enough time to source a replacement – although they left the door open for City to return in the new year.
Instead, the Blues signed Atletico Madrid's Martin Demichelis, 32, for £3.5m – only for the Argentina international to suffer a serious knee ligament injury in a training session three days after arriving at the club.
That is expected to rule him out for six weeks, leaving the Chilean boss with a headache as skipper and centre-back Vincent Kompany is also out with a groin injury – sustained in the first game of the season at home to Newcastle.
Mangala has a £40m buy-out clause in his contract and City are prepared to offer an initial £30m with the rest to follow in add-ons.
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