Manchester City have settled on an £86 million fee with Red Bull Leipzig for Croatian defender Josko Gvardiol in a move that will become the world record transfer for a defender.
Pep Guardiola’s biggest transfer spending since becoming Manchester City manager seven years ago has been on his defence. He does not look to be stopping any time soon as reports now indicate that he is going to be breaking another world record in order to further strengthen it.
Gvardiol has been one of the world’s best young centreback since his professional debut a little over five years ago. Many of the Premier League’s biggest teams have inquired, as have the biggest teams from all over Europe.
The Cityzens are now set to line up with the centreback whose ceiling is believed to be the highest for the future.
City and the player have agreed personal terms. The finalisation of the deal between both clubs is what is left. The 21-year-old will now line up with his international teammate Mateo Kovacic and Guardiola will hope both can bring their 2022 FIFA World Cup third-place-winning chemistry and mindset into his treble-winning team.
Gvardiol will join City on the back of 140 senior club matches and 21 international caps, which all but makes him a veteran at just 21 years old.
He will now line up with some of the world’s best in Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake, John Stones and Aymeric Laporte, who he could well be replacing as reports continue to link the Spaniard away from City.
Rival fans on social media have begun to berate City’s spending once again after the deal was announced by transfer news insider Fabrizio Romano. One fan commented, “City are winning the league again,” while another responded, “Manchester City just don’t want to give others a break.”
One fan admitted that linking up with Guardiola will make the already highly-rated Gvardiol even better, commenting, “He’ll become the best CB in the world!”
Meanwhile, City have lost Riyad Mahrez to the Saudi Pro League as Al-Ahli have agreed to pay in excess of £30 million for the Algerian.
The 32-year-old former Leicester City man played a key role in City’s treble winning season but will now leave for greener pastures in 2023/24. He will leave European football having achieved all there is to achieve, as well as winning an international trophy with his country Algeria.
He becomes the latest high-profile signing to make the move to Saudi Arabia from the Premier League following Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Ruben Neves, Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson and Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante.
