Manchester City have reportedly received multiple offers from European clubs for young attacker Adedire Mebude.
City are on course to take their earnings from the sale of academy graduates over the last two summers past £120m, and Mebude could soon further increase that total.
Last summer City brought in £61m through the sales of Romeo Lavia, Gavin Bazunu, Sam Edozie and Juan Larios to Southampton, Pedro Porro to Sporting Lisbon, Darko Gyabi to Leeds and Arijanet Muric and CJ Egan-Riley to Burnley.
This year the treble winners have offloaded goalkeeper James Trafford to Burnley for £14m, although the fee could rise to £19m.
Northern Ireland defender Shea Charles’s £10.5m move to Southampton could rise to £15m, while Girona have paid £4m to sign Venezuelan midfielder Yangel Herrera.
19-year-old Portuguese attacker Carlos Borges looks set to join West Ham in a £14m deal.
Is Mebude next to go?
City could see their income surpass that of last summer if they decide to sell Mebude.
According to Fabrizio Romano, City have received offers from Dutch club AZ Alkmaar and Belgian Pro League side K.V.C. Westerlo.
Both clubs are interested in signing the EDS star on a permanent basis, although the value of each offer is unknown.
Romano has reported that a decision on Mebude’s future will be made “in the next days”, and if City decide to sell then they will want a buy-back clause to be included in any deal.
Mebude – described by City EDS boss Brian Barry-Murphy as an “exciting player” – scored 11 goals and provided 13 assists last season as City’s U23s won the Premier League 2 title.
The 19-year-old – who represents Scotland at youth level – joined City’s academy set up in 2020 after coming up through the ranks at Rangers.
MCN view: City’s academy is reliantly bearing fruit
Mebude could be yet another example of a club paying a decent transfer fee for a young City player with little-to-no senior experience.
Supporters of other big clubs make the – frankly ridiculous – argument that clubs are doing City favours, but in reality the transfers reflect just how highly City’s academy is regarded in the world of elite football.
