Former Manchester City and Tottenham forward Paul Stewart is backing the Citizens to sign Brighton midfielder Yves Bissouma this summer.

The Malian international has been linked with the City Arsenal and Liverpool in recent months, but Stewart says that, while he would like to see the player move to Spurs, he feels Pep Guardiola’s side would be the favourites for his signature:

“Bissouma is certainly a player I’d loved Spurs to get, but he’s going to go to City, isn’t he, if he gets offered (a move to) City. That’s the cold hard facts. If City come in for you, you just don’t say ‘no’ do you? Because you know the rewards and not just monetary; you’re probably going to be challenging for every trophy.”

It must be said that signing a player of Bissouma’s profile is not thought to be a priority for City. The focus is believed to be on signing Jack Grealish and Harry Kane.

If the Manchester club do spend in excess of £200m on both players, there is unlikely to be a lot left over for signing someone like Bissouma. The 24-year-old is said to be valued at around £40m by Brighton and a switch to the Etihad seems rather unlikely for the midfielder at the present time.