Manchester City reportedly see Michael Olise as ‘the one’ to replace Riyad Mahrez – but the club will not break the bank for him.
Mahrez has now left the Etihad Stadium after five seasons to join Saudi Pro League outfit Al Ahli.
The Algeria international moves on to take up a new challenge and City are now tasked with moving forward without him.
Pep Guardiola must decide whether to dip into the transfer market.
Or consider someone to play on the right from his current crop.
City have been linked with a couple of players since Mahrez’s departure – and Olise is apparently a player on the club’s radar.
It’s been a little quiet on him lately, but journalist Sam Lee has now given an update.
Man City’s top target to replace Mahrez is Olise, but they won’t be frantic over him
The Athletic journalist who covers City, Sam Lee, was speaking on a new Let Me talk podcast episode.
He and David Mooney talked about what Guardiola does now that Mahrez has left the club.
And Lee provided an update about City’s interest in Olise.
He said: “They are looking for a winger. But it’s a bit like looking for a left-back after they didn’t get Marc Cucurella last summer.
“So Olise now… he is the one they’re looking at. But it’s not like, ‘yeah this is the guy we need to break the bank for’. Obviously with Declan Rice they were going to pay like £90-£100 million maybe. And they were very willing to do that. But just because they have the money doesn’t mean they’ll spend it. They won’t just go and buy two £50 million players. It depends on valuation.
“I think with Olise, they wouldn’t want to pay £50 million for him. And then obviously if Chelsea are interested and want to pay £50-£60 million then City just aren’t going to do it. Forget it.”
City stance might just prompt Olise to push for Etihad move
This is an intriguing update on the interest of City in Olise.
It shows that City will not just throw money at any right winger to replace Mahrez.
Olise is seemingly the player they like the most. But they are not about to spend a huge amount to sign him.
And this kind of stance should be accepted. Because it’s one they’ve had plenty of times before on other players.
City were interested in the likes of Cucurella, Jorginho, Harry Maguire and Alexis Sanchez, but never wanted to ‘overpay’.
And missing out on those players never harmed City.
We shall see if this stance actually encourages Olise – who has been hailed as ‘quality’ by his Palace teammate Ebere Eze – to agitate for a move to the Etihad.
There have been claims of a release clause though, so we shall see if that rings true.
It has also been suggested that Chelsea think they have actually already beaten City to the exciting star.
