Manchester City

Manchester City

Premier League • England

Man City eye ‘dream’ De Bruyne replacement after injury blow; €100m bid required for Guardiola target

Dani Olmo Man Utd

Dani Olmo speaks with Pedri during Spain game at the Euros

Manchester City are reportedly ‘keeping tabs’ on RB Leipzig attacking midfielder Dani Olmo after Kevin de Bruyne picked up a serious injury last Friday. 

The Belgium international is expected to be ruled out for around four months, so the Cityzens will now look to bring in a replacement for him.

Pep Guardiola has several attacking midfielders on his radar at the moment. West Ham star Lucas Paqueta has been heavily linked with a move to Man City, for example.

However, the Cityzens were targeting Paqueta before De Bruyne picked up his injury, so it’s likely they’ll look to bring in another player as well as him.

Olmo is one potential option. Guardiola is thought to be a big admirer of the Spain international. He made 31 appearances in all competitions for Leipzig last season, scoring five goals and making 11 assists.

The 25-year-old has plenty of experience in the Champions League and has won three major trophies in Germany. He is also versatile, with the ability to play as an attacking midfielder or as a winger.

With that in mind, he could provide cover in several positions for Man City next season.

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Olmo negotiations ‘difficult’ for Man City

According to transfer journalist Gianluca di Marzio, Man City’s interest in Olmo is concrete, but it would require a huge bid to convince Leipzig to sell him.

Di Marzio claims that the Spaniard is Guardiola’s ‘dream’ replacement for De Bruyne. Leipzig, however, do not want to lose him so negotiations are proving to be ‘difficult.’

The Spaniard netted a superb hattrick in the German Super Cup final against Bayern Munich last Saturday.

Due to his importance to the team, Leipzig will demand a fee in the region of €80m-€100m (£68.5m-£85.6m) for Olmo.

This is particularly expensive considering the attacker has a release clause of €55m (£47.1m) which will become active next season.

With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if Man City make a concrete offer for Olmo in the next couple of weeks, or bide their time and wait for his price tag to come down.

There is no doubt that Guardiola wants to sign the Leipzig star, but spending big on Gvardiol, Paqueta and Olmo in one transfer window may prove to be a step to far for the treble-winners.

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