Manchester City suffer big blow in pursuit of midfielder

Manchester City will face Newcastle United in their first match of the 2023/24 Premier League season. 

The Citizens will be hoping to win a fourth consecutive league title and will hope to beat the Magpies on the opening weekend of the season.

Pep Guardiola’s side recently became treble winners, lifting both the FA Cup and the Champions League as well as the league title.

Despite their fabulous achievements, the Manchester club are now looking to freshen up their squad in a bid to repeat their success next season.

City have already lost midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, who played a key role for the club, after the Germany international’s contract expired.

The Manchester outfit had reportedly identified Bayern Munich star Joshua Kimmich as the perfect replacement for Gundogan, but it now appears that their pursuit of the midfielder has been dealt a huge blow.

According to The Mirror, Bayern have issued a hands-off warning to City amid the Premier League club’s interest in the player.

The report claims that both Manchester City and Barcelona are interested in the midfielder, but the Bavarians have no intention of letting Kimmich leave.

Kimmich is a target for City this summer

Kimmich, 28, joined Bayern Munich from VFB Stuttgart back in 2015, when City boss Guardiola was in charge of the German champions.

Despite usually playing as a defensive midfielder, Kimmich scored five goals and registered six assists in 33 Bundesliga appearances this season.

Guardiola is said to be a huge admirer of the German midfielder and views him as the perfect player to fill the hole that Gundogan will leave at The Etihad.

However, with the Bundesliga champions reluctant to let him leave, a move for Kimmich this summer looks very unlikely.

At present, the German is contracted to his current club until the summer of 2025, which means that Bayern are under very little pressure to sell him during the current transfer window.

In total, Kimmich has made 347 appearances for Bayern across all competitions, scoring 40 goals and providing 94 assists.

He has also won 20 trophies during his time in Bavaria, including eight top flight titles and the Champions League.