‘First-team City promise’ sealed the deal for Yan
CITY secured the signing of highly promising Brazilian rightback Yan Couto by convincing him of their first-team plans for him.
That was the claim of the player’s agent after the Blues agreed the £10million signing of a player who impressed at the Under-17 World Cup last year.
That came despite intense competition from both of Pep Guardiola’s previous clubs, Barcelona and Bayern Munich for a player who has still not made his first team debut for his club Coritiba.
Couto was also being pursued by Brazilian giants Flamengo, but they wanted to simply trigger his release clause of £1.2m, while City trumped them by offering eight times as much.
They still had to deal with European rivals for the signature, with the teenager who has been likened to Barca great Dani Alves - keen to move to Europe.
But City courted Couto by inviting him to the Etihad Stadium for a match, with Guardiola taking time to personally chat to the youngster and help persuade him to join the Blues.
There are no guarantees that Couto will go straight into the first team squad next season - it is more likely that he would have been included in the party for a summer tour, which will no longer take place.
But his agent Marcelo Robalinho said that the assurances the player got from City persuaded him to agree a move which will come into effect on July 1.
“Flamengo would not spend more than 1.4 million euros,” said Robalinho.
“We chose to close with Manchester City because of the European project. And the prospect of playing with Guardiola. He’s going to stay on the main team.”