Manchester City have been in recent talks with RB Leipzig over a potential transfer deal for Josko Gvardiol.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the Citizens are preparing an official bid for the defender after having verbal approaches of €75m (£64m) plus add-ons rejected by the German club, who want at least €100m (£86m) for the player.
Now, fresh information has been revealed regarding this particular transfer saga involving the European champions.
City advancing on Gvardiol deal
In a recent Substack column for Caught Offside, journalist Fabrizio Romano had this to say about the current state of affairs concerning City’s pursuit of Gvardiol.
He said: “Manchester City are still working on the Josko Gvardiol deal and there were new contacts on Thursday. Leipzig told again that they want at least €100m, they are not going to accept €75m plus add-ons or €80m plus add-ons.
“City at the moment are not arriving at €100m guaranteed, but the conversation is ongoing and the deal is absolutely on and advancing.”
This says to us that while the Manchester club are eager to secure a deal for the Croatian, they would be looking to presumably pay less than the €100m that Leipzig are asking for.
Therefore, how much they want to sign him will have to be shown in how much they are willing to pay for him.
Having been previously described as being “strong, confident and elegant,” by Zlatko Dalic, as well as being called the “best central defender in the world,” by the Croatia manager, this highlights how much of top signing this could be for the European champions.
In our view, if this is a top target for Pep Guardiola and someone he sees as being an important figure for the team for the foreseeable future, the club should do all they can to work out a deal that suits all parties, even if that means paying more than they may have wanted to.
