Leipzig demands £100m for Josko Gvardiol
Manchester City are working to sign RB Leipzig’s player, Leipzig demands £100m for Josko Gvardiol. The club is expecting atleast £100m euros for the Croatian midfielder.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is a big fan of 21 year old, who starred at the World Cup last year. Gvardiol has a release Clause in excess of 110m euros which can be triggered by next summer.
It means that the club is not willing to let him to leave 12 months early for a smaller amount.
Although City are keen not to go as high as the €100m (£85.5m) that Leipzig are looking for, they do recognise that a world record bid is likely required to get the deal done.
With a deal already closed for Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic for £30m, City are hoping to that Gvardiol will be their second Croatian signing of the summer as they unite the international colleagues. On other hand, Sunderland completes deal with PSV defender Jenson Seelt.
The Premier League and newly crowned European champions are looking to make room for Gvardiol in their squad next seaason with the sale of Spain international Aymeric Laporte, who is attracting interest from a number of the Premier League clubs – including Aston Villa and Tottenham.
Gvardiol made 41 appearances for Leipzig last season and scored against City in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, which they went on to lose 8-1 on aggregate.
He has won 21 caps for Croatia and scored in their third-place play-off victory over Morocco in Qatar.
It is thought the former Dinamo Zagreb player’s ability in the left central defensive position, either in a three- or four-man defence, makes him perfect for the job Guardiola wants at a time when he is facing the loss of Spain international Aymeric Laporte.
A deal for Gvardiol could see him eclipse Harry Maguire as the world’s most expensive defender after Manchester United paid £80m for him in 2019. Sergio Busquets enters Inter Miami following Lionel Messi on summer transfer.
Josko Gvardiol over the Season
Josko Gvardiol has played 59 matches in the course of his career in the Bundesliga. Of these, he has won 32. He has played all the matches of his career in the Bundesliga as a member of RB Leipzig. Here, he has put a total of three balls in the net.
Josko Gvardiol is a RB Leipzig defender who has appeared in the vast majority of the side’s Bundesliga matches in 2022/2023, making 30 appearances overall and accumulating 2,169 minutes of playing time. He has started in 24 of these appearances across their 34 fixtures and entered as a substitute on six occasions.
In the ongoing season, the player with the shirt number 32 has scored one goal into the opponent‘s net. In 24 of the previous 30 games of the season, he was in the starting line-up. Of these 30 games, he won 17 with his club. Additionally, Josko Gvardiol was substituted in for six games.
His pass success rate amounts to 90.9 per cent. This result enables the 1.85m-tall defender to occupy eighth place in the league ranking for this category. His tackle success rate amounts to 61 per cent. With this, he occupies second place in the team-internal statistics. He has scored one own goal.
On 9 November 2022, Gvardiol was named in Zlatko Dalic’s 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. A day later, in a Bundesliga match against Freiburg, Gvardiol broke his nose after colliding with Willi Orban and prominently wore a face mask during the tournament as a consequence.
He received extended praise for his defensive performance in the group stage, especially in the decisive match against Belgium on 1 December that ended up as a goalless draw and saw Croatia qualify for the knockout stage for the third time in history.
On 17 December, in the third place play-off against Morocco, Gvardiol scored his first goal for Croatia at a major tournament. At the age of 20 years, 10 months and 24 days, he became the youngest ever player to score for Croatia at a major tournament, surpassing Ivica Olic. He was named Man of the Match, as Croatia won 2–1 and claimed their second bronze and third overall World Cup medal in history. Despite being a favourite for the FIFA Young Player Award, he lost it to Enzo Fernandez.
