Man City make WORLD RECORD bid

Carlo Garganese

• 26 Jul 2023 15:12 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester City have made a world record bid for World Cup star Josko Gvardiol, according to SportBild.

Man City have been in negotiations to sign the Leipzig centre back for several weeks now and have long since agreed personal terms with the player.

But contrary to some erroneous reports recently that the deal was done, Leipzig have yet to agree a transfer fee with City for the player.

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Leipzig have been holding out for €100 million for Gvardiol, a fee that would be a world record for a defender - overtaking the €87m Man Utd paid for Harry Maguire in 2019 from Leicester.

And now, SportBild report that City have finally reached the €100m figure with an offer that is €90 million plus €10m in add-ons.

Leipzig have yet to accept the offer, yet, as they want the add-ons to include more reachable bonuses.

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But City are now edging closer to signing the centre back that Pep Guardiola so desperately wants.

Gvardiol has emerged as arguably the most exciting young central defender in Europe over the last year and Guardiola is known to be a huge fan of the player.

Guardiola has made the signing of a new centre back his priority this summer and Gvardiol is top of the wish list.

Man City are not the only top European team interested in the 21-year-old.

Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United have all been linked with the defender in recent months.

However, only City have come forward with a concrete move and now they look likely to complete a deal.

Gvardiol brilliant in 2022-23

Gvardiol was one of the best defenders at the 2022 World Cup for Croatia, who made it all the way to the semi-finals, finishing third.

Gvardiol also impressed for Leipzig and actually scored for them against Man City in their Champions League last-16 first leg in Germany.

The two teams drew 1-1 before City won the second leg on the way to claiming the title.