Manchester City are reportedly in pole position to sign RB Leipzig and Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol, leading Premier League rivals Liverpool in the race to sign the 21-year-old.
Manchester City transfer news – Josko Gvardiol
The highly-rated defender is high of the watchlist of a number of big European clubs, but transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has tipped Manchester City as the most likely to secure the signing.
Speaking to GiveMeSport, Romano hinted that the champions of England and Europe are best placed to sign the central defender who starred at the World Cup for Croatia.
"Leipzig are not even accepting €80 million as a price tag for Gvardiol, so I think it will be around €100 million [£85m] instead and I see Man City being in a better position to sign him, but only if they are willing to spend that money, otherwise the player could stay in Leipzig for one more season," he said.
Josko Gvardiol could be City's next Vincent Kompany
City have a wealth of quality at the back, and signing Gvardiol would improve their elite defence even more.
Pep Guardiola tweaked City’s system this season, opting for an unusual 3-2-4-1 formation instead of their traditional 4-3-3 formation in which full-backs were constantly overlapping.
In the defensive three were three ball-playing centre-backs.
Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias were typically the trio, while John Stones was turned into a transitional midfielder in a hybrid holding role.
Although Dias would be considered the premier defender in this side, City have yet to match the quality of club legend and former captain, Vincent Kompany.
Gvardiol could be that very replacement, and at just 21 years-old, he could become a pivotal part of the Manchester City team for years to come.
The Croatian "monster" – as hailed by Romano back in December – is the glue of the RB Leipzig defence.
The Bundesliga outfit have won 32 of the 59 games the centre-back has played.
Similar to the no-nonsense Kompany, Gvardiol loves a tackle, registering 219 of them in the 2022/23 Bundesliga season and winning 60 aerial duels.
Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra both put the Leipzig defender in their World Cup 2022 team of the tournament, with Ferdinand proclaiming that the City target was his favourite centre back at the tournament.
“He’s young, he’s 21 years old, so to come and perform the way he did, so mature, so calm.
“He is really good on the ball, in the early stages coming out with the ball a lot. Against Messi and Argentina he got turned quite a few times, but this is Messi, so I would put that to one side. In general, I thought he was [a] stand-out for me. I think he has got a chance to go on and become one of the best defenders in the world, if he can continue improving like this.”
Kompany was of the world’s best defenders in his time at City, and Gvardiol could become the second coming of the Belgian international for the blue half of Manchester.
He, at 22, made a similar switch from the Bundesliga, signing for the Manchester giants from Hamburger SV back in 2008.
Good teams don’t wait until the team becomes stale to begin rebuilding, they continually look to improve whether results are good or bad.
Guardiola, fresh from the treble, could send out a major statement signing one of Europe’s hottest young prospects to add to his already stout defence.