Manchester City, Manchester United and Newcastle will fight it out to sign Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz, according to Sport.
The Catalan publication claims that, while the 3 Premier League teams will “enter the battle” for the German international, Barcelona won’t get involved.
Wirtz’s valuation of €85m (£74m) is well beyond the La Liga champions’ price range, and it is very likely that the player will end up plying his trade in England.
The 20-year-old has had a decent start to the season for Leverkusen, scoring 3 goals and contributing 4 assists in 10 appearances.
It’s been almost a year since Wirtz returned from an ACL injury and the playmaker is beginning to get back to his best.
Will City be in the market for a No.10?
There is no doubt that Wirtz’s style of play would perfectly match City’s. He is technically gifted and can play in a number of different roles.
However, the German is most comfortable in the No.10 position. On the face of it, it is not an area where manager Pep Guardiola is short of options. Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva are all capable of playing there.
With De Bruyne not getting any younger, though, there is an argument for saying that Wirtz could be the Belgian legend’s successor.
Leverkusen will consider selling Wirtz
It has been reported in the past that Wirtz has an agreement with Leverkusen to stay with the Bundesliga club until the summer of 2024.
We are now approaching that end date, with a sale set to be sanctioned at the end of the season. Of course, City will still have to meet his rather high asking price but there is a genuine chance of a transfer happening.
