Fiorentina have reached an agreement to sell the Montenegrin forward Stevan Jovetic to Manchester City, the Serie A club have confirmed

The 23-year-old has scored 35 league goals in five seasons with La Viola, who finished fourth in Serie A last season, and it appears City’s lengthy pursuit of the versatile forward has come to fruition.

A statement published on Fiorentina’s official Twitter account, @ACF_Fiorentina, read: “An agreement has been reached with Manchester City Football Club for the permanent sale of the player Stevan Jovetic.”

The Premier League runners-up, now managed by Chilean Manuel Pellegrini, have already strengthened their squad with the recruitment of midfielder Fernandinho from Shakhtar Donetsk and winger Jesus Navas from Sevilla, with the latter's former team-mate Alvaro Negredo expected to follow in the coming days.

Striker Negredo's transfer is yet to be formalised by City, who are on a pre-season tour in South Africa, in the wake of Sevilla's announcement the Spain international had agreed a move to the Etihad Stadium, but it is clear Pellegrini is working to fill the gaps left in his forward line by the exits of Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli.

Jovetic — who is as comfortable playing as a lone striker as he is in front of the midfield — finished the 2012-13 season with 13 league goals following a campaign-haul of 14 in the previous year.

He missed the entire 2010-11 season in Florence after suffering a cruciate ligament injury in pre-season training.

He made his Montenegro debut in 2007 and brought up his 10th goal for the nation in a friendly game against Latvia last August.

Fiorentina, meanwhile, have already set about replacing Jovetic's goals by adding Germany international Mario Gomez to their ranks for a reported €17 million euro fee last week.