Manchester City have a knack for signing young players from other clubs across Europe.
For instance, previous transfer windows have seen City land deals for the likes of Savinho, Jeremy Doku and Josko Gvardiol among others.
Looking ahead to the next summer transfer window, the Blues will have a new man in behind the scenes, as Hugo Viana is set to replace Txiki Begiristain as City’s sporting director.
Even though there’s still a significant period of time before the summer window opens, some details have come to light regarding one player who has been on the Manchester club’s transfer radar recently.
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Man City leading Premier League rivals in transfer race for Florian Wirtz
Journalist Florian Plettenberg shared this update concerning Bayer Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz on his official X account.
He said: “Bayer Leverkusen’s ideal scenario is to convince Florian Wirtz to sign a new contract. His current contract runs until 2027.
“If the 21y/o wants to leave next summer, Leverkusen are determined to sell him abroad and not to FC Bayern.
“So far, Man City’s interest is the most concrete. Also interested: Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United.
“Real Madrid is also in the race, but Leverkusen currently consider a move to the Spanish giants next summer to be unrealistic.”
What has Leverkusen’s CEO said about selling Wirtz?
Earlier this month, it was reported that City were behind Bayern and Real in the race to sign Wirtz.
Leverkusen’s CEO, Ferran Carro then said this about not wanting to sell Wirtz to Bayern.
He said: It is, of course, self-evident that we do not want to strengthen direct competitors in our own league with top players.
“I also said that directly to Jonathan Tah. I understand if you want to leave, but I would have preferred any club other than one in Germany.”
With 162 appearances for Leverkusen under his belt prior to their league match against Eintracht Frankfurt, the German has bagged 47 goals and supplied 51 assists.
In terms of what sort of fee it could take for the Blues to potentially land a deal for the 21-year-old, Carro told Radio Marca (via 90Min) back in April that Leverkusen would only sell Wirtz for €150m (£125m)
Now that Plettenberg has said that not only is a move to Real unrealistic for next summer but also that City are ahead of any other Premier League side to land a deal for the midfielder, this should excite a lot of supporters.
