Liverpool will reportedly miss out on the chance to sign Josko Gvardiol who has agreed to personal terms with Manchester City.
Liverpool and City, both the clubs are trying to improve their defenses this season. Both clubs are looking for defenders in the market in this summer’s transfer window.
Manchester City might lose centre-back Aymeric Laporte who will leave the club soon. The Spanish defender is hoping to join a new club to get some more playtime.
The French-born defender only appeared in 24 games across all competitions for the Treble winners as Pep Guardiola likes to rotate his squad. So the 29-year-old is finding new opportunities.
Also, Pep has been frequently using John Stones more offensively in the defensive midfield role. And he has successfully handled the task. As a result, the PL Champions need a new centre-back to add depth to their squad.
Meanwhile, Liverpool are also in serious need of some young replacement in the defense as both Virgil Van Dijk and Joel Matip are approaching 31. The Reds are in dire need of a young but promising defender.
And Josko Gvardiol looks like the perfect candidate for the role. Klopp would absolutely love to bring the Croatian defender to Liverpool.
The 21-year-old has already proven how good of a player he is and his potential of being a world-class player. He can rightfully be a great replacement and probably a successor to Van Djik.
Liverpool to lose the race for Josko Gvardiol to City
According to a tweet by Fabrizio Romano, City has ‘agreed personal terms’ with Gvardiol. Guardiola has been actively pushing to sign Gvardiol as Romano has said that the Spanish mastermind ‘rates him highly’.
Leipzig would like to keep the defender for one more year but City officials will soon enter negotiations to finalize the deal. So the German club have set a price tag of £86M (€100M).
If City sign the Croatian for £86M then he would become the most expensive defender of all time. The record is very famously held by Harry Maguire who cost City rivals Manchester United £80M in 2019.
Liverpool now have to look for something new to solve the defense backup problem.
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