Gonzalo Higuain

Real Madrid's sporting director Jorge Valdano has said that he would like Argentinian striker Gonzalo Higuain to spend the rest of his career with the Spanish giants.

Higuain has been in excellent form this season and hit a hat-trick in last night's 4-1 victory over Real Valladolid to take his tally to 21 goals in 27 games so far this season. 

Manchester City were reported to be closely monitoring the 22 year-old's faltering contract extension talks at the Bernebeu in preparation for making a summer bid to capture both the striker and Real Madrid team-mate Fernando Gago .

However, Valdano acknowledged that Higuain had been hard done by in his contract negotiations so far, telling Spanish daily AS, "He is a player of great class and we did him an injustice recently.  He was accused of selfish and unfair things for a striker with such a hunger for goals.  You cannot condemn a player with a perfect record for three years."

Acknowledging the interest in Higuain from clubs such as Manchester City , Valdano continued, "We are talking with him about an extension and there is much scope.  He is a player of great interest not only to Madrid and we would like to not only renew his contract, but for him to finish his career in Madrid."

Higuain has recently forced himself into the Argentina side and is expected to star in this summer's World Cup.

Reports from Spain over the past few days had indicated that Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini had specifically asked Eastlands owner Sheikh Mansour for the funds to make a bid for Higuain and Gago.