City looking to wrap up club record deal for Fox
CITY are set to complete the club record signing of Riyad Mahrez within days.
The Premier League champions are closing in on the Leicester winger in a deal worth around £60m.
Talks have progressed between the clubs since City walked away from a deal in January. Leicester’s asking price of £90m prompted Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain to pull out of negotiations but they have remained in contact with their counterparts at the King Power Stadium.
Sources close to the deal are confident it is now in its closing stages – with City potentially announcing their first signing of the summer by the end of this week or next.
Despite Leicester’s attempts to drive up the price of the Algerian international, the clubs are close to agreeing a fee of £60m plus add-ons.
Pep Guardiola has told chief executive Soriano and sporting director Begiristain to wrap up his transfer business early and wants the majority of his recruitment to be concluded before the World Cup.
Guardiola is planning on including Mahrez and Italy midfielder Jorginho in his travelling squad for City’s tour of the US in July.
The combined fee for the pair is expected to cost in the region of £120m.
The move for Mahrez will be a straight cash deal, despite Leicester’s attempts to include winger Patrick Roberts in a part exchange in January. PEP Guardiola wanted City to act fast – and they’ve done just that.
The Premier League champions are closing in on a double deal for Riyad Mahrez and Jorginho just weeks after the season’s finale.
Mahrez could become a City player within days after talks over a club record £60m move with Leicester progressed at pace.
And Jorginho is also within touching distance, with Napoli now believed to be ready to accept a reduced fee of around £42m for the BENJAMIN Mendy is getting back to his best if his social media game is anything to go by.
It has been a frustrating season for the 23-year-old, forced to sit out the majority of it with a serious injury that nearly cost him a place in Russia this summer. Italian international. That’s precisely what Guardiola wanted after telling executive vice chairman Ferran Soriano and sporting director Txiki Begiristain that his record breaking champions still needed strengthening this summer.
Ideally, the Catalan would have completed the majority of his business in January, only to see moves for Mahrez and Brazilian midfielder Fred break down.
City’s manager was convinced the transfer market would dramatically inflate this summer, so advised the club’s hierarchy to bring in any new recruits as soon as possible.
He was also eager to give new
But the City defender was named in the France squad by Didier Deschamps and made his return for the national team in a 2-0 win over Ireland on Monday night, lasting more than an hour as he looks to prove his fitness to the national coach.
Mendy is clearly pleased with his progress as he moved on to the sort of social media session that became less frequent as he focused on signings the best chance of settling in ahead of their title defence next season.
Aymeric Laporte ended up City’s only new addition in January – but other areas in need of address were agreed during meetings between Guardiola, Soriano, Begiristain and regular contact with chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak.
Shakhtar’s valuation of Fred prompted City to switch their focus to Jorginho, who Guardiola had been so impressed with when facing Napoli in the Champions League group stages.
Having failed to bring in any further signings in January, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager told Soriano and Begiristain to try to wrap up deals for Mahrez and Jorginho before the World Cup.
With neither player involved in the tournament in Russia it was considered easier to conclude negotiations and ensure both would be able to join a considerably reduced squad on the club’s tour of recovering from his injury.
There was a joke about his gym work accompanied by a match picture featuring his particularly muscly leg.
There was also a dinosaur gif tagging Raheem Sterling – a teasing reference to his team-mate’s unusual running style.
The French team Twitter account also shared a video of Mendy and PSG striker Kylian Mbappe following the US in July. But there was also a financial incentive to get the deals done early in what is expected to be another record-breaking window.
City’s hierarchy were left congratulating themselves on swift deals for Bernardo Silva and Ederson at the start of last summer. Neymar’s world record £200m move from Barcelona to Paris St Germain sparked a dramatic inflation that led to megamoney deals for Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe. City were convinced they would have had to pay significantly more for Bernardo, in particular, had he been signed later in the window. Securing the services of Mahrez and Jorginho now would also leave them free to swoop should any of their elite targets become available later – namely Mbappe and Eden Hazard. Guardiola wants City to act if there is any chance landing either of those players – even though it is accepted that both are likely to be out of reach. Ousmane Dembele down a corridor singing the Barcelona star’s name, with the fitting caption: “They never stop.”
Mendy has one more chance to impress Deschamps before June 4 when the squads for the World Cup must be confirmed.
France play Italy in Nice tomorrow night before a final warm-up game with the United States the following week.