Sky Sports are reporting that Napoli have rejected a bid from Manchester City for their midfield star Jorginho. It has been reported that City approached the Naples based side with a bid worth £44m but Napoli club president Aurelio De Laurentiis turned it down.
The offer was worth £40m with bonuses on top totalling to £44m, according to De Laurentiis. City have made Jorginho their first target of the summer in this postseason session and are in advanced talks to sign the 26-year-old.
“I’ve refused €45m plus a €5m bonus from City for Jorginho,” De Laurentiis said. The central midfielder has two years left on his contract and it will be hard for City to get the player unless Napoli agrees to sell. With a deal for the midfielder now looking unlikely, here are three other players City can move in for.
Paul Pogba
Yes, you saw it correctly. Paul Labile Pogba of Manchester United has been unable to play his best game at Old Trafford and it is no secret that his relationship with the current United boss Jose Mourinho is frosty.
The football on the other side of Manchester under Guardiola is extremely entertaining and allows midfielders to run into boxes and play with the ball under their feet rather than form defensive structures in their own half. This is something that will definitely interest Pogba and with an agent like Mino Raiola on his side, maybe City can pull off the scoop of the season.
After all, no one thought Neymar would really move from Barcelona but it happened, didn’t it?
Thiago
The Bayern Munich star has travelled with the Spanish squad to Russia in order to take part in the 2018 edition of the FIFA World Cup. He has the experience of playing under Guardiola and certainly fits the bill to play at Manchester City.
He is smooth on the ball, runs through defenders with ease and has the vision to split defences with one pass. He will be a perfect addition to City next to Kevin De Bruyne but the tricky part will be to get Bayern to let their star midfielder leave.
Mateo Kovacic
Not exactly an ideal number 8 or a perfect Guardiola player for that matter. However, he knows the basics of sitting in front of his defence inside out and can act as a perfect screening guard in the central defensive midfielder.
Read More: Manchester City Favourites To Sign This Dutch Defensive Star: Do They Really Need Him?
He can provide some much-needed cover to Fernandinho who is ageing fast and will need a second man due to the length and intensity of the season.
