THREE clubs want to hijack Man City's record transfer

Tom Weber

31 Jul 2023 19:16 BST
3 min read

Pep Guardiola, Man City, 2022/23 — © ProShots

Three Premier League giants are trying to hijack Manchester City's Josko Gvardiol transfer, claims a Spanish outlet.

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The Croatian's move to the Premier League champions has stalled in recent weeks. Pep Guardiola is a long-time admirer of Gvardiol and he has been keen to finally bring the defender to the Etihad, but getting the deal over the line has proved harder than perhaps anticipated.

Given the 21-year-old's steep development curve since signing for RB Leipzig in 2021 for €18.8 million, the Red Bulls are keen to squeeze as much money out of the move as possible. In fact, Leipzig want to make Gvardiol the world's most expensive defender, having slapped a €100m price tag on him.

READ: Chelsea 'confident' of completing TRANSFORMATIVE deal

Despite the player's desire to make the switch to the Premier League and Manchester City's seemingly unlimited funds, the Champions League winners have been reluctant to meet Leipzig's asking price, and the latter have reportedly set an August 12 deadline by which the deal must be completed.

Other clubs are now trying to exploit this apparent impasse.

A massive hijack?

At least that is what Spanish outlet Fichajes is claiming. They assert that Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool are all trying to hijack Manchester City's deal.

In fact, they go so far as to claim that all three 'have submitted offers to try to steal Gvardiol's signing.' It is, however, doubtful that there is much to this report.

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Chelsea are in the process of wrapping up the signing of Axel Disasi, while Manchester United's transfer priorities have been well documented; signing a centre-back has not yet become an urgent point on the agenda, especially since Harry Maguire still hasn't been sold.

Liverpool, meanwhile, are in the market for a centre-back, but it seems unlikely that they would be able to spend €100m on Gvardiol given their lack of Champions League football and the fact that they have already shelled out €112m on Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai. This appears to be a rumour that will die down rather quickly.