You know you are trying to buy a player from the Bundesliga when there are quotes from the selling club's executives in the papers every day.

German media enjoy a relationship with football clubs that other countries can only dream of, with sporting directors, CEO and chairmen happy to speak publicly about transfers on a regular basis. In contrast, the last interview Manchester City head of recruitment Txiki Begiristain gave was in 2018 as he prefers to operate without any noise.

That obviously doesn't mean that messages don't get across, but German clubs use their media to make their stance as explicit as it can be. As Frankfurt director of football Markus Krösche has done for City's pursuit of Omar Marmoush.

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"Our basic intention is to keep the squad together," Krösche told Kicker. "Something extraordinary would have to happen for us to move away from this position."

As messages go, it is less 'hands off' and more 'come on in and make yourself welcome once we know you've got the cash'. Frankfurt have given themselves the opportunity to declare Marmoush not for sale this month, and they have chosen not to.

For 'something extraordinary', everybody can read 'the amount of money we'd take'. City experienced similar from Wolfsburg when they were chasing Kevin De Bruyne in 2015, and eventually they paid the price.

Whether City pay up this month remains to be seen. All parties know that there is a premium in the January window that will not be present in the summer, and the Blues may decide to wait until then when they will have more information.

However, Begiristain and everyone else knows that City have been given a green light to sign Marmoush this month if they offer up enough money. Whether they choose to buy the Egypt international or not, Frankfurt are not completely blocking the sale.

That is all the encouragement City need as they look to make an impact in this January window. The difficulties of getting deals done this month are well known, but the Blues are certainly not being put off in their pursuit of Marmoush.

Whatever the 'extraordinary' number it will take for them to sign the forward is, it surely won't be long before Frankfurt helpfully let everyone know.