As things currently stand, Manchester City won’t be signing Joshua Kimmich from Bayern Munich this month.
It was reported on Saturday that City were plotting a move for the Germany international, who has previously worked with Pep Guardiola.
City were said to be looking at moving for Kimmich in the summer, when his market value will be considerably lower. At the moment, it’s thought he is worth around £50 million, but later this year it could drop to around £25 million when the player will only have a year left on his contract.
Now, renowned journalist Fabrizio Romano has shared what he knows of Kimmich and Manchester City’s interest…
Manchester City target Joshua Kimmich going nowhere in January
This morning, Fabrizio Romano has given his thoughts about Kimmich in his column for Caught Offside.
What he has said probably shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, because City tend not to do much business mid-season.
He said: “There have been stories about Manchester City as Joshua Kimmich nears the final year of his contract at Bayern Munich, but what I can say is he is 100% staying at Bayern in January.”
“All clubs are now busy with transfers for January rather than contract extensions, so we will see in the next months… but in January nothing will happen for Kimmich.”
It was suggested earlier this week that Guardiola was interested in a reunion with Kimmich, and that the feeling for the player was mutual.
Moving for Kimmich this summer makes sense
So it sounds as though Kimmich won’t join City this month, or any other club for that matter – and that makes sense because he’s one of Bayern’s best and most influential players.
They can’t lose him now, and it’s not like Pep and City to make high-profile transfers mid-season anyway.
But this would be a fantastic move for the club to make in the summer, when the player will only have a year remaining on his contract.
Kimmich – a player Jose Mourinho thinks is ‘phenomenal’ – for potentially £25 million would be an incredible bargain.
This is a player who has won an awful lot of titles at Bayern, has international pedigree, can play in several positions, is a leader and has worked with Pep before. To say he would be an upgrade on Kalvin Phillips is a major understatement.
It is understandable that Bayern would not want to lose Kimmich in this window, as he is a key player and the club are currently locked in a battle for the Bundesliga title with Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen, who have been flying this term.
