Man City remain confident of signing Bundesliga star

Manchester City face German champions Bayern Munich in their first pre-season friendly of the summer on Wednesday. 

The Citizens completed a remarkable treble last season, winning the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup, but they have since lost instrumental midfielder Ilkay Gundogan.

City have signed midfielder Mateo Kovacic from rivals Chelsea, though, and it appears that they could soon be adding another new signing to their squad.

As per Football Insider, City remain confident of signing RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol this summer, despite conflicting reports surrounding the proposed move.

The Croatian defender has been heavily linked with a move to The Etihad for several weeks now and City were said to be closing in on a move, but the German club’s sporting director has since been quoted as saying that an agreement is ‘not even close’.

Gvardiol has been heavily linked with a move to Man City this summer

Despite that, the report claims that the Manchester outfit remain confident of securing the signing of Gvardiol during the current window.

The 21-year-old joined Leipzig from Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb back in 2021, and has since made 87 appearances for the club across all competitions.

A 21-time Croatia international, the centre-back played a crucial role for his country as they finished third at the World Cup in Qatar last year.

Gvardiol scored during Croatia’s 2-1 win over Morocco in the third-place play-off at the tournament in December.

At present Gvardiol is contracted to Leipzig until the summer of 2027, which would likely put the Bundesliga outfit in a commanding position during any potential negotiations over the player.

If City do complete the signing of Gvardiol, the ex-Dinamo man will compete with the likes of John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji for a starting spot in Pep Guardiola’s backline.