The release clause in the contract of Manchester City target Eberechi Eze has “expired”, according to journalist Bobby Manzi.

Writing on his X account, Manzi revealed that the clause only remained active until 5 pm on Friday 16th August:

Exclusive: Understand Eberechi Eze’s Crystal Palace release clause expired at 5 pm tonight.

The attacker has attracted interest from the likes of Manchester City this summer, but the release clause is no longer active. #CPFC

— Bobby Manzi (@BobbyManzi) August 16, 2024

It is very surprising that City allowed the clause to expire, especially considering that they held talks with Eze’s representatives about a transfer last week.

If they want to enter negotiations with Crystal Palace now, the Eagles will probably demand a lot more than the £60m it would have cost to get him with the buyout clause. Other interested teams (such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle) will face the same issue.

City may not recruit anyone else before the transfer window shuts

The fact that they allowed the clause to expire suggests that the Premier League champions are not that desperate to bring in a player ahead of deadline day.

It was assumed that the leg injury sustained by Oscar Bobb would force City into bringing in reinforcements but that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Could Echeverri be recalled?

It has been reported that the Cityzens could bring Claudio Echeverri back from his loan spell at River Plate six months early. The Manchester club paid £12.5m plus add-ons for the teenager during the January transfer window but he was expected to remain in Argentina for a year. When asked about a potential recall, though, manager Pep Guardiola said he wasn’t aware of any such plan:

“No idea about that. I didn’t talk with [Director of Football] Txiki [Begiristain] about Claudio Echeverri.”

Find out who is in Manchester City’s first-team squad for the 2024/2025 season here