Author: Amrit Santlani
Manchester City have been informed that they will have to fork out a world record fee for their target, Josko Gvardiol, as RB Leipzig, the Croatian defender’s parent club, have put a price tag of 100 million on the promising defender.
The Cityzens are big admirers of the defender, but Leipzig have clearly informed the Premier League giants that they are unlikely to walk away from their huge asking price.
Gvardiol, 21, is widely regarded as one of the brightest defenders in the world, and City manager Pep Guardiola is among those who value the Croatian highly. But it seems that signing the defender won’t be so simple.
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The Bundesliga club are in negotiations with Man City, as the three-time world champions have been asked to fork out a world record sum to get Gvardiol. The player has a release clause of more than 110 million euros, however, it will only become active next summer.
Leipzig don’t want to sell the Croatian for significantly less than he’s likely to earn in a year. The central defender played 41 times for the German club and also managed to score against City in an 8-1 thrashing in the last 16 of the Champions League.
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With 21 caps for Croatia, Gvardiol was his country’s star player in the run-up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup and scored the goal that took Zlatko Dalic’s men to third place, beating Morocco in the play-offs.
The former Dinamo Zagreb defender was also on Chelsea’s radar, but the club cooled their interest due to Leipzig’s asking price. Manchester United’s £80 million deal to sign Harry Maguire is currently a world record for a defender, but the Bundesliga side want at least 100 million euros for Gvardiol.
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The Premier League giants have already spent 30 million pounds to sign Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea, while Ilkay Gundogan has gone to Barcelona. Bernardo Silva and Aymeric Laporte have also been linked with various clubs, while João Cancelo is also on the verge of leaving the Etihad.