Guardiola ‘asks’ Man City to sacrifice Grealish in swap deal for Real Madrid superstar
Pep Guardiola has reportedly asked Manchester City to include Jack Grealish in a deal for a Real Madrid superstar in order to lower the price of the deal.
Grealish had a massive struggle for minutes last season. In fact, in each of the last two Premier League seasons, he’s played just 20 games, but the seven he started last term was a smaller figure than the season prior.
A number of reports of late have suggested that his future lies away from City.
If Guardiola gets his way, the forward could be playing for Real Madrid soon.
According to Defensa Central, Guardiola has ‘asked’ City to give up Grealish to another European club.
Further to that, it’s said he is ‘trying to go for the signing’ of Real forward Rodrygo, with the ‘idea of lowering the price for the Brazilian’ by including Grealish in the deal.
However, the report states that is ‘something that Real Madrid will not accept in any way’ as new boss Xabi Alonso has made it clear he ‘trusts’ Rodrygo for his first season in charge at the Bernabeu.
It also feels unlikely that Grealish would be wanted by the European giants if he’s struggling to get a game at City.
What’s more, Rodrygo himself has suggested he’s content at Real for the time being. There’s been a lot of speculation regarding his future of late, with Arsenal one of the main clubs looking to pounce on him.
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It’s been suggested they won’t be able to land him without the winger pushing for the exit.
Fabrizio Romano said: “On Rodrygo Goes, what I can tell you is that he posted ‘Happy’ [on his social media], and there’s one more message from Rodrygo, because Rodrygo never asked Real Madrid to leave the club these weeks or these days.
“So there is interest from Arsenal. He’s a dream target for Arsenal, but it’s not even a negotiation at this point, because the only way to make it happen as a negotiation is for Rodrygo to tell Real Madrid, okay, I want to leave the club. And Rodrygo hasn’t done that so far.
“So Rodrygo’s intention remains to do his best for Xabi Alonso, to work at his best level and to see a message with ‘Happy’ is quite an important development in this Rodrygo story.”
City, meanwhile, have been urged to do whatever it takes to sign Newcastle right-back Tino Livramento this summer.
The 22-year-old is reported to be City’s top target to replace the outgoing Kyle Walker, and Shaun Wright-Phillips believes he would be the perfect capture.
“I think he’s a fantastic player, and he’s still so young. He’s definitely someone to watch. I think Ashley Cole was raving about him, speaking about how good he is, how he’s a brilliant one-on-one defender. If anyone can judge a quality full-back, it’s Ash,” Wright-Phillips told Man City News.
“He goes forward, too and has such quality about him. City have always had Kyle Walker as an option so if there’s a direct replacement, he’s going to have pace. Tino’s got that, but he’s not just quick, he’s a more rounded player as well.”
It has been reported that Newcastle would want £70million to sell Livramento.
