Man City: Guardiola ‘plunders’ £134m pair with Liverpool target his ‘big priority’ in ‘urgent rebuild’
Pep Guardiola is reportedly planning an ‘urgent rebuild’ and could push Manchester City to make two signings when the transfer window opens in January.
Man City are going through a mini-crisis as they have lost four consecutive matches across all competitions. Their defeats have come against Tottenham Hotspur, AFC Bournemouth, Sporting Lisbon and Brighton.
This run of results leaves second-placed Man City five points adrift of league leaders Liverpool and they have also exited the Carabao Cup. In the Champions League, they are tenth in the table after four matches.
Guardiola is clearly missing Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, who will be out for the rest of this campaign after suffering an ACL injury.
Since Rodri suffered his injury, Man City have been linked with several potential replacements and could look to sign a defensive midfielder in January.
In recent weeks, Real Sociedad standout Martin Zubimendi has been heavily linked with Man City and a report in Spain claims he’s the ‘most convincing option’.
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Zubimendi shone for Real Sociedad last season and also impressed for Spain at Euro 2024. In the months leading up to the summer, Arsenal targeted the midfielder but Liverpool emerged as his most likely next destination when the window opened.
Liverpool made Zubimendi their top target and this transfer initially looked likely to happen. However, the Real Sociedad decided to stick with his boyhood club and this move fell through.
The 25-year-old continues to be linked with a move to the Premier League as he is yet to sign a contract extension to commit his future to Real Sociedad.
The report in Spain claims Guardiola has decided to ‘plunder’ La Liga as he ‘urgently needs to rebuild Man City in January’.
His ‘big priority’ is to replace Rodri and Zubimendi – who has a 60 million euro (£51m) release clause in his contract – is said to be their preferred target.
Zubimendi is reportedly ‘clear’ that the ‘time has come’ to leave and will ‘betray’ Real Sociedad in the coming months.
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Atletico Madrid star Pablo Barrios is also ‘very well positioned on the agenda’ for Man City, but this transfer will be ‘considerably more difficult’.
‘Pep hopes to convince the Spanish under-21 international to follow the example of Rodri, who also left Civitas Metropolitano to join City, more than a year ago.
‘Guardiola already knows perfectly well that the signing of Barrios will not be easy at all for City.
‘Unlike Zubimendi, who does have a very reasonable clause, the Atleti footballer is valued at more than 100 million euros (£83m), a prohibitive amount, and which they are not willing to pay.’
