Manchester City have been light on activity in the summer transfer market so far, though the Cityzens have been working hard in the background to sign RB Leipzig’s highly-rated centre-half Joško Gvardiol.
The 21-year-old Croatian international is widely considered to be one of the best young players in the world in his position and Gvardiol has been steadily adding to his reputation with some commanding performances at the back for RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga and Champions League.
The central defender came through the youth ranks at Dinamo Zagreb in his homeland before Leipzig swooped in to sign him for around €19m in July 2021.
Gvardiol has racked up close to 90 appearances for Die Roten Bullen since, though a move to England’s Premier League looks like it could be in the pipeline before August.
Gvardiol’s move to City: What’s the latest news?
It’s clear that Manchester City are working on a deal to take Joško Gvardiol to The Etihad Stadium, however, there is some confusion as to how well negotiations with RB Leipzig are going following the publication of some conflicting reports.
Last week, stories started to surface which suggested that Gvardiol was set to undergo a medical with Man City after the treble-winners and Leipzig had found common ground over a fee, however, those rumours were quickly squashed by the defender’s current employers.
Leipzig manager Marco Rose dismissed notions that a deal with City had almost been reached, while the club’s sporting director Max Eberl was even more scornful of the notion when quizzed about the same subject, saying to Sky Sports in Germany:
“There is no agreement with Manchester City. Not even close. The fact is that Man City would like to have him. Currently we are still very far apart. The transfer of [Diminik] Szoboszlai has secured us financially. We don't need the money. We would prefer Joško to stay.”
Indeed, Gvardiol has even travelled with his teammates to Leipzig’s pre-season training camp in Italy, which would suggest nothing is imminent in terms of a transfer to City.
RB Leipzig have already raked in over £100m from Premier League clubs following the sales of Dominik Szoboszlai to Liverpool and Christopher Nkunku to Chelsea, and there is a certain irony to the fact that some of Man City’s domestic rivals have made it hard for the champions to acquire Gvardiol due to their own squad strengthening.
[🚨🌕] NEW: The main contention in the Josko Gvardiol deal is the addons. Leipzig want £86m including easy addons. #ManCity are currently putting £77m, but the problem is that the addons are not easy to achieve. In the end, the deal will be completed and Gvardiol will MOVE to… pic.twitter.com/n9SNdkkCzn
— City Zone (@City_Zone_) July 25, 2023
Man City remain determined to land Gvardiol
Despite being frustrated in their attempts to sign Gvardiol and at Leipzig’s insistence at earning €100m from the deal, City are still expected to push ahead in their quest to bring the defender to Manchester.
However, City have shown in the past that they are prepared to walk away from transfers if the price isn’t right. The Cityzens were interested in signing Declan Rice this summer, though a price tag north of £100m was deemed too rich for the anchorman and he ended up at Arsenal.
City also cancelled their pursuit of Harry Maguire before the England international penned a deal with rivals United, while Pep Guardiola was left disappointed two years ago by City’s inability to strike a deal for Harry Kane, who was priced out of a move by Tottenham Hotspur.
Nevertheless, the Gvardiol transfers is a piece of business the champions expect to get done before they play their first Premier League fixture of the 2023/24 campaign.
