Garrido exits City to replace Kolarov at Lazio

Manchester City's summer of offloading to make room for their multi-million signings has begun with the sale of Javier Garrido to Lazio, for a fee believed to be around £2.5 million.

Lazio require a left-back to replace Aleksandar Kolarov, who was sold to City last week for a fee fee variously quoted as being between £16-19 million and, after a reported failure to lure Luca Antonelli from Parma, they turned to the out-of-favour Spaniard, who ends three years of association with City, having been signed by Sven Goran Eriksson in the summer of 2007.

"Garrido is a Lazio player. He was our first choice to replace Kolarov," Lazio president Claudio Lotito said.

City confirmed the departure of Garrido via a statement on the club's official website on Friday afternoon. It read: "He leaves for Italy with the best wishes of everyone at the club."

Lazio have also announced the signing of right winger Alvaro Gonzalez from Nacional. Gonzalez, 25, is a Uruguay international.