More midfield woe for Pep, as Man City baulk at €75m price tag

Frenkie de Jong TEAMtalk

Manchester City are set to miss out on another midfield target with Frenkie de Jong reportedly ready to join Paris Saint-German.

Pep Guardiola missed out on Jorginho last summer when the Napoli man made the move to Chelsea to join his old boss Maurizio Sarri.

The City boss is searching for a long-term successor to Fernandinho and was believed to in the market for Ajax star De Jong, who has scored four goals and picked up one assist this season.

City though are unwilling to match Ajax’s €75million price tag for the 21-year-old and PSG are now in pole position, according to the Daily Mirror.

De Jong was reported to have picked City as his preferred destination, but City could not agree a deal with Ajax technical director Marc Overmars, who would not bow on the club’s £66.4m valuation.

Instead De Jong will head to the French capital instead of Juventus, who are also in the running for the player.

Guardiola played down the chances of adding to his squad last week and the champions may well have to go with what they have for the remainder of the season.

“Sometimes we have made January signings,” he told ​Sky Sports.

“But normally, we buy one player, it’s for the next five, six years – and normally these kind of situations in this transfer window don’t happen.

“For loan players, maybe it can happen, but I think the big clubs don’t buy players for just five or six months, and they don’t sell in that period.

“If you don’t have injuries, if you are satisfied with the players, the squad you have, you go with them.”

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