Pundit Tam McManus has given his verdict on Manchester City’s interest in RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol after reports linking the Premier League champions with a blockbuster move.
Gvardiol was part of Croatia’s World Cup side that reached the semi-finals of the tournament. The 20-year-old made seven appearances and averaged a 7.16 match rating on Sofascore.
According to Italian reports, Man City are preparing a €130m (£114m) bid for Gvardiol.
Bayern Munich have also been linked amid interest from other Premier League sides, including Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, according to German outlet BILD.
Speaking to Football Insider, McManus believes the club would have to pay a ‘monster fee’ for the defender.
He stated: “Any player who plays that well in a World Cup is going to be linked with the biggest clubs in Europe,
“Obviously, Man City are one of those and he is at Leipzig at the moment. So I think they will be looking to get a big fee for him.
“The fee I have seen is £100m or £110m, something like that – a monster fee. He is a very, very good defender and he’s only 20.
“He’s coming off the back of a good World Cup, so I think City will strike when the iron’s hot. It will be a huge outlay but he looks like an outstanding player.
“I was really impressed when I watched him.”
TIF Thoughts on McManus’ comments…
There’s clearly a lot of interest surrounding Gvardiol and £114m for the 20-year-old is certainly no small fee. The Croatian has been a raving success in the Bundesliga with RB Leipzig.
When compared to other centre-backs in Europe’s top competitions, Gvardiol is tremendous with the ball at his feet. He ranks in the top 6% for progressive passes and in the top 1% for dribbles completed (FBref).
Therefore, it’s not as if this is a player who has only been performing well at the World Cup, as the defender has been producing fine displays at the top level for a while.
You would imagine City will definitely have the money to make the deal happen as they’ve spent a lot of cash on transfers for over a decade now.
Meanwhile, we think the majority of the City faithful will back Pep Guardiola’s decisions in the transfer market, with the Spaniard having brought in some tremendous names in the past, so we will watch this one with interest.