Man City submit offer for towering record-breaker who’ll help Guardiola put Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd in their place
Man City hope to fend off ‘fierce competition’ and have tabled an offer to sign a Croatian record-breaker who could help Pep Guardiola dominate English football for years to come.
Since Guardiola took charge at the Etihad, more money has been sunk into defensive additions than any other department in his squad.
Pep’s current crop contains a series of top class defenders who were all plucked for big fees. Indeed, Kyle Walker (£50m), Joao Cancelo (£60m (including Danilo as part-exchange)), John Stones (£50m), Ruben Dias (£51m), Aymeric Laporte (£57m), Nathan Ake (£45m) and Benjamin Mendy (£52m) all fit that billing.
Clearly, City’s financial department would benefit from either a homegrown star breaking through or a signing for a far cheaper fee shoring up the defensive ranks.
Doing so would allow Guardiola to spend the bulk of his annual transfer budget on positions that require more urgent attention – such as the midfield.
Indeed, Bernardo Silva continues to be heavily linked with Barcelona, while Ilkay Gundogan is out of contract at season’s end. Kevin De Bruyne will turn 32 in June, while Kalvin Phillips can only be classified as a bust so far.
Now, according to the Atheltic, City have made their move for a centre-back who could prove an almighty bargain.
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Man City bid for Croatian phenom
The Athletic’s David Ornstein reported Man City have tabled an offer worth £10.5m (including add-ons) to sign Croatian record-breaker, Luka Vuskovic.
Despite only turning 16 on February 24, Vuskovic already stands at an imposing 6ft 4in tall. He made his professional debut for Hajduk Split in February and in the process, became the youngest player to ever feature in the Croatian top flight.
More recently, Vuskovic scored in Hajduk’s Croatian Cup victory over NK Osijek in the quarter finals. In doing so, Vuskovic became the youngest scorer in Hajduk’s history.
The fact a player so young has already broken into a senior set-up in world football is one thing. But the fact he’s making tangible contributions at that age is another level of impressive entirely.
Ornstein added competition to sign Vuskovic is ‘fierce’. However, City have broken the ice and become the first of his many suitors to lodge an offer.
As yet, the offer has not been accepted or rejected by Hajduk. While not stated, common sense would dictate they bide their time in the hopes a bidding war ensues.
If City were able to land Vuskovic for what will no doubt prove a bargain sum, City may well be landing a future starting centre-back of more than a decade.
Saving money on countless centre-back transfers in the future would allow Guardiola and co. to invest heavier in other positions.
That’s not a thought the likes of Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal will wish to consider.
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