Manchester City could end up paying more than RB Leipzig’s asking price when they complete the signing of Josko Gvardiol.
City are edging closer to securing one of their top transfer targets of the summer.
The treble winners have negotiated tirelessly with RB Leipzig over the past few weeks, and on Wednesday Fabrizio Romano reported that the two clubs had come to an agreement regarding a fee.
City have made sure to get their man
Leipzig’s asking price for Gvardiol was £86m (€100m) and negotiations about meeting that price – as well as how to structure payments – took a while.
Gvardiol reportedly agreed personal terms with City one month ago, and on Thursday completed the second part of his medical.
Presumably, that means that once the two clubs have finalised their agreement there will be no barriers preventing the deal from being completed.
In fact, according to Leipziger Volkszeitung, City have gone above and beyond to make sure they get the defender who was right at the top of Pep Guardiola’s wish list.
The news outlet has reported that the initial fee for Gvardiol will be less than Leipzig’s £86m asking price, but that the fee will rise above it when a series of realistic, success-related add-ons are accounted for.
An £86m transfer fee would already have made Gvardiol the most expensive defender in football history, but now it likes likely the 21-year-old will cost even more.
The most expensive defender in the world is currently Harry Maguire, who Manchester United signed in 2019 for £80m.
MCN view: City weren’t messing around
City take a principled approach to transfers – if a club is asking too much for a player, then they will walk away rather than pay over the odds, or worse still, get involved in a bidding war.
Txiki Begiristain and the rest of the City board clearly feel the extra costs involved in signing ‘generational’ talent Gvardiol are worth it. Only time will tell if they are right.
