Jose Mourinho formulates plan to steal Man City star in ‘marquee’ Fenerbahce transfer

Jose Mourinho is keen to bolster his Fenerbahce squad in the coming weeks and reports suggest Manchester City midfielder Mateo Kovacic is on his shortlist.

The iconic manager wants to build a team capable of winning the Turkish Super Lig and competing in the Champions League and he’s already made SEVEN new additions.

The likes of Youssef En-Nesyri, Caglar Soyuncu and Allan Saint-Maximin (loan) have joined Fenerbahce this summer but Mourinho’s business is far from done.

Fenerbahce are also likely to sell left-back Ferdi Kadioglu for a big fee this summer amid interest from Manchester United and Brighton, so those funds could be reinvested.

According to The Sun, Mourinho has identified Kovacic as a target amid rumours that he could leave Man City this summer.

The Cityzens would reportedly be willing to offload Kovacic for £25m this summer – the same amount they paid to sign him from Chelsea last summer.

The 30-year-old is a key part of Guardiola’s squad and made 46 appearances across all competitions last season.

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Man City could sell two midfielders this summer

Kovacic’s potential move away from the Etihad could make room in the Man City squad for a new midfielder.

It’s also likely that Kalvin Phillips could finally depart amid interest from Everton in the former Leeds United man.

This could give Matheus Nunes the chance to finally nail down a spot in Guardiola’s starting XI. He joined from Wolves 12 months ago but played just 180 minutes in the Premier League last term.

It remains to be seen whether Fenerbahce are willing to match Man City’s £25m valuation of Kovacic, but the potential sale of Kadioglu would generate enough cash to fund the move.

The Croatian international is happy with the Cityzens’ though and has hailed the impact Guardiola has had on his career in a short space of time.

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“You can see straight away that Pep has great ideas. It is on another level. I think he is the best coach in the world,” Kovacic said last year.

However, he could be tempted by the opportunity to play under Mourinho, who is a top-class manager in his own right.

As exclusively revealed by TEAMtalk, Fenerbahce are also interested in Burnley midfielder Sander Berge, so it will be interesting to see if the Turkish giants make a bid for both players in the coming weeks.