Why Man City have yet to finalise Josko Gvardiol transfer

RB Leipzig appear to be keen on bringing in key signings before sanctioning the release of Josko Gvardiol this summer.

Christian Falk reported in his exclusive update for CaughtOffside that this is why ‘it’s a little quiet’ on the Manchester City front, with the German outfit wary of seeing asking prices elsewhere shoot through the roof.

“Leipzig’s first offer for Castello Lukeba was €26m and €6m in add-ons. That was not enough for Lyon. That’s why they have to go up. So Lyon wants €30m as a base fee. Leipzig is working on how to arrange this. This is also interesting for England – that’s why it’s a little bit quiet at the moment over Josko Gvardiol, because Leipzig knows at the moment that if they get a package of €100m, the other clubs will say ‘hey, you’ve got €100m, so you can spend a little bit more on the player’.”

The Sky Blues have yet to make any additions this summer, though do remain keen on the potential signing with David Ornstein reporting that the club wish to negotiate a lower fee than the £85.6m Die Rotten Bullen are looking for.

Such an addition, of course, may first rely on the Cityzens offloading certain players now surplus to requirements, like Aymeric Laporte.

In a defence already containing the likes of John Stones and Ruben Dias, the addition of Gvardiol would be yet another tremendous addition to the ranks of the league champions.

Able to feature in the left-back role, the Croatian would support Pep Guardiola’s use of a back three in possession if needed, tucking into his natural centre-half position.