Manchester City’s Pursuit of Josko Gvardiol

Manchester City have been pursuing the signing of Josko Gvardiol for some time now, and to the delight of their supporters Fabrizio Romano gave the deal the “Here We Go” treatment on Wednesday.

A Deal Not Yet Sealed

Romano declared that an agreement had been reached on the transfer and that Gvardiol had already completed the first part of his medical. The deal was, he claimed, on the verge of being signed.

City fans were in raptures, but they were premature – as Fabrizio often is.

The deal was not done, at least not in the eyes of RB Leipzig.

Leipzig’s Official Statement

Max Eberl, the Sporting Director of Leipzig, came out Friday and announced that no agreement had been reached and went as far as to say no agreement was even close. Both sides were far apart on their valuations of the player, according to Eberl. He also dismissed speculation about a medical taking place.

Eberl went further, stating that after the sale of Dominik Szoboszlai to Liverpool the club had no reason to sell Gvardiol and would prefer to keep him. The Croatian has a release clause of £100mil in his contract for next summer and doesn’t seem to be pushing to leave at this stage. At just 21, he is aware that he still has plenty of time to make his big move.

The issue seems to be that City are not keen to break the world record fee for a defender. As things stand, Harry Maguire remains the world’s most expensive defender and Leipzig are demanding a fee in excess of what Manchester United paid to sign the England defender from Leicester in 2019.

An Alternative: Goncalo Inacio of Sporting CP

If City don’t want to spend that type of money but do feel the need to add a player with a lot of similarities to Gvardiol they could do a lot worse than Goncalo Inacio of Sporting CP.

Inacio is five months older than Gvardiol though not quite as experienced. He is a graduate of Sporting’s impressive academy and played an important role in the club’s Primeira Liga title in 2021. Under Ruben Amorim, he has largely operated in a back three, which would translate well to Guardiola’s set up at City.

Left-footed, he has plenty of experience on the right side of a back three as well as his natural side, and that has made him one of the best ball-playing central defenders in Europe. His passing ability might actually outstrip that of Gvardiol, though he is not of the same calibre as a ball carrier.

Twice capped by Portugal, Inacio looks likely to be a mainstay for his national team alongside City star Ruben Dias and it would be ideal for both if they could team up at club level as well.

Inacio is believed to have a buy-out clause of £34mil which might be a lot more palpable for City than the fee being asked for Gvardiol.