It seemed like Manchester City’s plans for the summer revolved around signing Florian Wirtz.
But eventually, Manchester City decided not to sign Wirtz as they deemed a potential £252 million deal — despite him being one of the best young players in Europe.
Pep Guardiola’s side are eyeing Morgan Gibbs-White — who could very well be an alternative to the 21-year-old —with City having been interested in the Nottingham Forest midfielder’s signature for weeks.
Gibbs-White is valued at £70 million and Forest expect the Englishman to depart the City Ground this summer.
On the other hand, to sign Florian Wirtz, the Sky Blues may have had to shell out a staggering £125 million fee.
Man City knew Bayern Munich had the edge in Florian Wirtz race
Jack Grealish’s £100 million move to Manchester City remains their club-record fee; a move that has come under criticism as the former Aston Villa winger has failed to set the world alight at the Etihad Stadium.
However, Wirtz is a far more proven commodity at the highest level in comparison to Grealish when he was in his final season at Villa — having won the Bundesliga and made his mark in the Champions League as well.
Journalist Dean Jones revealed on the Ranks FC podcast that he is surprised that Manchester City pulled out of the race to sign Wirtz — while claiming that perhaps they were aware that Bayern Munich had the edge in the race to sign him: “But now, City briefing that they’ve pulled out of the race, and one of the main reasons they’re given is value for money.”
“Baulking at a total cost of a deal which with the transfer fee and wages over the length of the contract would have topped about 300 million, which to be fair, even by City standards is a staggering amount of money. Given that about 125 million pound of it would be his transfer fee, it was a lot to spend on Wirtz.”
“But Man City have liked this player for a long time. I’m still kind of surprised that they’re not doing it. And I suspect that it’s because they know that Bayern Munich have been so deeply entrenched in getting him over there for so long and maybe they just hold the edge.”
Man City have enquired about signing Wirtz alternative
Despite not signing Wirtz, it seems like Manchester City’s primary aim remains to bolster their midfield.
As a result, Manchester City could land Tijjani Reijnders after having agreed personal terms with the AC Milan maestro.
Manchester City have enquired about signing Rayan Cherki, who recently announced he is leaving Lyon at the end of the season.
The Frenchman could be available for just £19 million in the summer.
Thierry Henry raved about Cherki’s talent and it will be interesting to see if Manchester City intensify their efforts to sign him.
