As Man City stars begin to return from their summer holidays, so the carousel of transfer ins and outs will begin to turn.
Despite winning a treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup, it’s a fair bet that Pep Guardiola’s incessant drive for perfection will see him move on some players and bring in others.
The Cityzens were imperious domestically and in Europe during 2022/23, and the first-half performance against Real Madrid must go down as one of the best by any team in football history.
It’s completely understandable therefore why players would want to come and play for the club, inspired by the Catalan coach’s ideas and implementation.
RB Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol won’t come cheap, but discussions have begun again to assimilate him into the first-team dynamic at the Etihad.
‘Manchester City are still working on the Josko Gvardiol deal and there were new contacts on Thursday,’ Fabrizio Romano wrote in his exclusive CaughtOffside Substack.
‘Leipzig told again that they want at least €100m, they are not going to accept €75m plus add-ons or €80m plus add-ons.
‘City at the moment are not arriving at €100m guaranteed, but the conversation is ongoing and the deal is absolutely on and advancing.’
Though Gvardiol’s hire is unlikely to affect any decision on right-back Kyle Walker, the England international could still be on his way out of Manchester.
‘It’s 50/50 situation now for Kyle Walker as to whether he stays at Man City now or not,’ Romano added.
‘Bayern are pushing and Tuchel is insisting a lot to have him, but City have also sent him a new contract proposal so it’s only up to the player.’
If there’s one thing that Guardiola has shown during his City tenure, it’s that no player is indispensable.
Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling, Oleksandr Zinchenko have all left the club in the recent past, but the coach has managed to somehow make his squad even better.
They club will surely take some stopping again in 2023/24 if they land their targets this summer.
NO LEAVE