CITY SPECIAL Mendy move takes a step closer as Monaco find replacement
MONACO have completed the signing of Feyenoord left-back Terence Kongolo - paving the way for Benjamin Mendy to join City.
Pep Guardiola is targeting four new full-backs following the departures of Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy, Pablo Zabaleta and Jesus Navas, and Mendy is right at the top of the Catalan’s shopping list.
City swooped in for Mendy’s former team-mate, Bernardo Silva, just five days after their final game of the season, but landing the France international has not been so easy.
That could now change after Monaco completed the £11.41m signing of Kongolo, who has penned a five-year deal at the Stade Louis II.
“I am very pleased to join AS Monaco,” he told the club’s website.
“I will discover an exciting new challenge at a prestigious and ambitious club.
“I look forward to meeting the staff, my new team-mates and doing the best on the field to help the group.”
Monaco’s general manager, Vadim Vasilvev, added: “We believe very much in his potential and we are convinced he will find in Monaco the conditions to flourish here.”
Guardiola is also weighing up moves for Tottenham’s Kyle Walker, Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand and former Juventus right-back Dani Alves.
Last week, the Bianconeri confirmed they had parted company with Alves ‘after agreeing to a termination of the player’s contract’.
The 34-year-old had a year left on his contract at the Juventus Stadium, but was keen on a reunion with Guardiola having won 14 trophies under the Catalan at Barcelona. PEP Guardiola says it could take City TEN years to reach the same level as the great European teams.
But the Blues boss does not mean that the fans will have to wait until 2027 to start achieving the kind of success currently enjoyed by Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich!
Guardiola has been speaking to Catalan newspaper L’Esportiu PEP Guardiola has confirmed City have signed Barcelona whizkid Eric Garcia.
The 16-year-old central defender is said to be the best defensive product of the Catalan club’s fabled La Masia academy in years, with comparisons drawn with Barca great Gerard Pique.
But City have stepped in to sign ahead of his return to Manchester, with work beginning in earnest on Monday when he and the players are due to return for the start of pre-season.
When asked about his first season at City, Guardiola said: “I hope to have as much fun here as in the first season, because I enjoyed it.
“There are people who say that it has not gone well, but it’s the exception to what I’ve done so far – seven years of coaching and six leagues won.
“City is a great team, but getting to the Spain under-17 international, after he was highly recommended to Guardiola by club scouts.
Barca fans were up in arms last week when it became known Garcia was about to move, and Guardiola has confirmed the news in an interview with Spanish TV station TV3.
Guardiola said City had signed the player as one for the future, adding: “We had very good reports, but I Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus… it’s very complicated. You need time, a decade.”
That has been interpreted as meaning it will be 10 years before City reach the same level as the likes of Madrid or Barca.
But Guardiola has simply expanded on a recurring theme – he believes that the only way City can achieve the same status as those European giants is to consistently play, and progress, in the Champions League.
Only that way will the confidence and belief of players, staff and fans grow to the point that they feel they belong on the same stage.
We saw it last season when, after a fantastic comeback in the first leg against Monaco, they took a 5-3 lead to the Principality – and you could almost see the self-doubt creeping over them as Monaco went onto the front foot.
City have now been in the Champions League for six seasons, and have qualified for the knockout Pep Guardiola haven’t been lucky enough to see him play yet.
“They spoke highly to me about him and we had the opportunity to sign him. He wanted to take this step and the club has given it.”
The Blues are expected to have to pay up to £1.3m for Garcia, whose agent is Nou Camp legend Carles Puyol.
And while City have offered Garcia a tempting financial package and a stages for the last four, and Guardiola’s task is to break through that barrier and reach a final. “We want it and we have time to do it,” he said, and commented on how having fellow Catalans and close pals Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano as football director and chief executive respectively has been a bonus. “Having Txiki by my side gives me much warmth, and the same can be said of Ferran Soriano, one of the most admirable people I have known – and he has always supported us when things have not gone well,” he said. “Now Txiki is trying to make the changes necessary to strengthen the team, which was the oldest in the Premier League. “It was a successful team, but it had grown old. “We have rejuvenated it with Gabriel Jesus and Ilkay Gundogan and will continue to do so. “I played with eight or nine of Pellegrini’s players – they are good but we had to rejuvenate the team.” three-year contract, the teenager is said to have been most impressed by the promise that he will be given the chance to train with the City first team in his second season with the club.
The move has sparked anger among Barca fans who feel their best young prospects are still being cherry-picked by English clubs after losing Pique and Cesc Fabregas in similar circumstances.