Man City transfer latest as striker progress made and £33.5million deal agreed
Manchester City are advancing with a deal for Omar Marmoush after agreeing a fee for Lens defender Abdukodir Khusanov.
Khusanov will arrive at the Etihad this month after City secured a £33.5m deal to sign the 20-year-old immediately. Talks are also ongoing with Palmeiras over 18-year-old Vitor Reis, although the Brazilian club are looking to hang onto their player until after the Club World Cup in summer.
Meanwhile, the Blues are looking to sign Frankfurt forward Marmoush to bolster their attacking options. The 25-year-old scored again on Saturday and a fee above £50m could be required to land him, with the Bundesliga club in a position of strength as they push for Champions League football next season and declaring that it would take 'something extraordinary' to lose their star striker.
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City have been encouraged by their negotiations over the player even if they have not yet reached an agreement with the club as they look to kickstart their rebuild in the January window. Guardiola spoke after the 8-0 win over Salford City on Saturday on the need to make the team stronger.
"The reason why we have problems is we don't have a long squad," he said. "60 per cent of the players are injured. Our back four or five never trained two sessions altogether. That's the problem we had. That's why we're trying in this market and the next one and next one to add some players."
City's move for Khusanov will see them pay a £33.5million fee plus add-ons for the 20-year-old centre back. City have admired the 20-year-old centre-back for some time and, as the Manchester Evening News reported last week, opted to bring forward plans to sign him amid their injury crisis.
It will cap a remarkable rise for the Uzbekistan international who only joined the French club 18 months ago for around £100,000 from Energetik-BGU in Belarus.
