While Manchester City are still in the race to sign Florian Wirtz, it’s safe to say that it will take a herculean effort for Pep Guardiola and Co to secure his services — based on several reports.
Firstly, Wirtz’s father eyes Bayern Munich as his son’s next destination while the German international’s mother would like him to stay at Bayer Leverkusen and his girlfriend fancies City — which shows that his future is still undecided.
Currently, Bayern are the favourites to sign Wirtz even though Manchester City consider the 21-year-old as the ideal candidate to replace Kevin De Bruyne in the summer.
With the youngster being one of the best midfielders in the world, City’s persistence is understandable but it would be wise for them to have contingency plans just in case a potential move falls through.
Xavi Simons and Tijjani Reijnders have been heavily linked with moves to the Etihad Stadium in the recent weeks and months.
Pep Guardiola keen on signing Xavi Simons at Man City
Simons could leave RB Leipzig in the summer by his own admission and Manchester City could have the chance to snap him up this summer.
Manchester City’s interest in Simons stretches back to last month and even in the past, the Sky Blues have been linked with the Dutchman’s signature on multiple instances.
GiveMeSport have now reported that the La Masia graduate’s attacker has emerged as a Manchester City target due to three facets of his game.
- Creativity
- Playmaking abilities
- Intelligence
Furthermore, Pep Guardiola is “tempted” by the idea of working alongside Simons as well — considering RB Leipzig are willing to let him go for a fee of £60 million this summer.
While Manchester City have verbally agreed to sign Wirtz, so have Bayern to give both clubs an equal chance of prising him away — as the English giants have been demanded to pay £84 million to sign him.
But in case Wirtz does opt to join the Bundesliga champions, Manchester City seem to be laying the groundwork to become the frontrunners to sign Simons — who was described as “gifted” by Marco Rose via BBC Sport.
Xavi Simons vs Florian Wirtz stats this season
Simons and Wirtz are two of the Bundesliga’s best attacking midfielders.
However, the latter has the edge over the former in terms of his stats.
| STATS THIS SEASON | XAVI SIMONS | FLORIAN WIRTZ |
| STARTS | 31 | 35 |
| GOALS | 10 | 16 |
| ASSISTS | 8 | 15 |
However, Wirtz is playing for a superior Bayer Leverkusen side who competed for the title once again but nevertheless, his tally of 16 goals and 15 assist across all competitions is extremely impressive.
But Pep Guardiola’s interest in Simons makes complete sense as he has 18 goal contributions for a struggling RB Leipzig side and at Manchester City, his game could reach the next level.
