Manchester City are set to sign Belgian winger Jeremy Doku, with the deal bearing some resemblance to their capture of Josko Gvardiol.
City have agreed to pay Stade Rennes a fee of €65 million (£55.5m) for the 21-year-old, who has reportedly signed a five-year-contract with the treble winners.
Doku will become City’s third signing of the summer following the arrivals of Mateo Kovacic and Gvardiol.
Unlike the drawn-out pursuit of Gvardiol, only a couple of weeks passed between City’s interest in Doku becoming public and a deal being wrapped up.
Devil in the detail
So how did they do it, and what are the terms of the deal?
According to journalist Sacha Tavolieri, City’s agreement with Rennes does not include any of the fine details that can delay negotiations.
City will pay the fee in instalments over a number of years, and the deal does not include any add-ons or a sell-on clause.
The other reason why City were able to get the deal done quickly was the leverage they had.
Late interest in Doku from Spurs, Chelsea and West Ham saw Rennes raise their asking price to over €80m, but City could point to the fact that Doku only wanted to join them.
That allowed City to drive the price down and avoid a time-consuming bidding war.
Txiki strikes again
City’s sporting director Txiki Begiristain has draw criticism from some supporters this season for the club’s failure to land some of their primary targets.
However, Pep Guardiola’s close ally has once again shown that City will only agree to deals on their terms and their terms only.
Managing to avoid any add-ons for Doku is something of a masterstroke, while a payment instalment plan will ease the financial burden of the deal.
