Manchester City is prepared to spend a whopping £180 million ($240 million) to secure the services of Florian Wirtz and Tijjani Reijnders ahead of next month’s Club World Cup. The former is a player who has been linked with Liverpool in recent days.
The club is on a mission to revamp Pep Guardiola’s squad after investing during the January transfer window, with Bayer Leverkusen’s Wirtz and AC Milan‘s Reijnders topping their wish list. Leverkusen has slapped a price tag of over £100 million ($132.8 million) on German international Wirtz, but this hasn’t deterred City, who could potentially include James McAtee as a £25 million ($33.2M) sweetener in the deal.
Milan has made it clear that City will need to surpass the Italian club’s £56.3M ($74.6M) transfer record, previously set by Kaka, to secure Dutch playmaker Reijnders. Both players are due to participate in World Cup qualifiers early next month and, ideally, Guardiola would like to wrap up some business before City jets off to the United States for the expanded Club World Cup.
Kevin De Bruyne’s involvement in the tournament is uncertain, as the Belgian is reportedly looking to finalise a move to another club. De Bruyne’s hefty weekly wage of over £350,000 ($464.8K) at the Etihad will free up significant funds for City to negotiate deals for Wirtz and Reijnders.
Wirtz, 22, currently earns less than £80,000($106K) a week in the Bundesliga and has been pinpointed as the ideal replacement for De Bruyne. He has already discussed his future plans with Guardiola while Liverpool has been linked with the player.
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Reijnders, aged 26, penned a fresh five-year deal with Milan in March, raking in a cool £96,000 ($127.5K) per week. Leverkusen’s gaffer, Xabi Alonso, who is tipped to make a move to Real Madrid this summer, holds both players in high regard.
City suffered a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final on Saturday, meaning they’ll finish the season empty-handed, with their focus now shifting to securing a spot in the Champions League and subsequently the Club World Cup.
Eberechi Eze netted the solitary goal of the final at Wembley, handing Palace their first ever major trophy, while Dean Henderson thwarted an Omar Marmoush penalty after dodging a VAR review for a possible handball outside the box.
