Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is reportedly planning further changes to his squad and it involves a big-money move for Celtic ace Moussa Dembele.
The Spanish tactician will see the 20-year-old at close quarters on Tuesday night in the Champions League clash between the two sides at the Etihad Stadium.
Since his summer move from Fulham, Dembele has scored 17 goals for Celtic, including two in the first meeting between these two teams in September.
As noted by The Sun, a £30m move from City has been touted for January, and Guardiola didn’t exactly rule it out even though he was fairly dismissive.
“If you read the newspapers in the last six months, since I became a coach at Manchester City, maybe I have had contact with 126 players to buy them for Manchester City. Dembele is another one. Every week I have contact for the next season to change players. Alexis (Sanchez) was the last one.
“But the quality (in Dembele) is there. He is an exceptional player.”
Brendan Rodgers will undoubtedly be desperate to keep the youngster at Celtic for the foreseeable future, such has been the impact he has made since moving to Scotland.
However, the bright lights and big money offered by City could be enough to convince him to link up with Guardiola and continue his ascent to the top.
In contrast, one man that isn’t likely to have a future in Manchester is goalkeeper Joe Hart, with The Sun claiming that the England international is available for a cut-price deal worth £10m.
The shot-stopper is currently out on a season-long loan deal at Torino after being snubbed by Guardiola this past summer, with the City boss opting to bring in Claudio Bravo instead.
The Chilean stalwart hasn’t exactly been the most reliable man between the posts so far this season, but that still hasn’t been enough to force Guardiola into a re-think.
Hart is under contract with City for another two years in a deal worth £120,000-a-week, and the door has been opened for a foreign club to make their move for £10m, although it’s added in the report that Guardiola isn’t prepared to do another Premier League club a favour, and so any English clubs will have to pay up to £20m for the 29-year-old.