Manchester City are in a good position to snap up Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz, in addition to Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White, according to journalist Sam Lee.
Speaking on The Athletic FC podcast, the usually reliable reporter said that Pep Guardiola’s side are confident of securing the German international’s services:
“Florian Wirtz. I mentioned it in my article last week that there was interest in Florian Wirtz. But I’ve had more conversations since then and I would say it’s got to the point now, the same as Gibbs-White, where if he didn’t go to City, which is still possible, but if he didn’t go to City I’d probably think ‘oh, something has changed there’ because City are in a good position there, from what I understand at the moment.”
“Wirtz, it’s not like City are in a super strong position, but there’s the understanding that he could leave in the summer, so there’s a bit of middle ground to find there.”
There is contradictory reporting on Wirtz
While Lee claims that City feel they are still in with a chance of signing the 21-year-old, the rumours coming out of Germany suggest otherwise.
Some have claimed that Wirtz has made Bayern Munich his priority club. Other teams, including Real Madrid, Arsenal and Liverpool have been mentioned as potential destinations in recent months but the Bundesliga champions have always been regarded as the main threat.
Of course, a lot still depends on who can agree a fee for the midfielder. It is believed that Leverkusen may demand as much as €150m (£128m).
What is the latest on City’s pursuit of Gibbs-White?
As Lee mentions, there is optimism that the Cityzens will purchase the Nottingham Forest playmaker. The I Paper claims that negotiations are “progressing well” to sign the England international.
Gibbs-White and Wirtz have both been tipped as potential replacements for Kevin De Bruyne and it appears there is now a chance the Manchester side will buy the pair of them.
Find out who is in Manchester City’s first-team squad for the 2024/2025 season here
