Manchester City are readying an improved bid for RB Leipzig’s Joško Gvardiol, according to Fabrizio Romano. This comes after the treble-winners agreed personal terms with the Croatian defender.
Pep Guardiola’s side have already submitted an offer of €90m plus bonuses, as reported by Sky Germany last month, but RB Leipzig want at least €100m for Gvardiol, which will become a world-record fee for a defender.
After interest from Chelsea, Gvardiol signed a new RB Leipzig contract until 2027 last summer with an exit clause of €110m, but that doesn’t become active until 2024.
But should Manchester City meet RB Leipzig’s valuation, then it’s likely that Gvardiol will leave the Bundesliga club this summer and he will be the third player to depart for a significant fee after Christopher Nkunku and Dominik Szoboszlai, while Konrad Laimer left for Bayern Munich on a free transfer.
RB Leipzig’s Max Eberl has also confirmed that Gvardiol has told the club he would like to leave. “Joško and his advisors have submitted the wish to us for a transfer to Manchester City,” Eberl told LVZ.
With a departure inevitable, RB Leipzig are already drawing up a list of replacements. Lyon’s Castello Lukeba (20) is a desired candidate while El Chadaille Bitshiabu (18) has also been pictured in Leipzig.
GGFN | Daniel Pinder
