Speaking recently on The Athletic’s Headline podcast, Manchester City correspondent Sam Lee discussed the club’s pursuit of a new left-back and also their willingness to sell Oleksandr Zinchenko.
So far in the summer transfer window, City have signed Nathan Ake from Bournemouth in a £40.77 million deal, Ferran Torres from Valencia for £20.7 million, Pablo Moreno from Juventus for £9 million, Yan Couto from Coritiba for £5.4 million and Issa Kabore from KV Mechelen for £4.05 million, totalling £79.92 million of expenditure on incoming players (as per Tranfermarkt).
However, despite there being just a matter of days remaining of the summer transfer window, it would seem as if Pep Guardiola’s side is not done with their transfer business just yet, with the club recently agreeing a £65 million deal to sign Benfica centre-back Ruben Dias, with Nicolas Otamendi moving in the other direction for a £13.7 million fee, in addition to the fact that, speaking on The Athletic’s Headline podcast, Lee believes that Guardiola is also on the hunt for a new left-back.
He said: “[I’m] pretty sure that they’re still working on a left-back, but it may well be the same situation as with Otamendi, because, I know that Oleksandr Zinchenko has got some offers on the table, and that City will sell him if they get whatever they deem to be the right one.
“Now, [who] knows, in this market especially, what that will actually be, but if they can sell Zinchenko, then – financially and in terms of squad space – it helps them get in another left-back.
“I’ve got an idea of who it might be, but it’s not fully, 100% confirmed yet.
“I do think they’ve sped up their plans, they were looking at getting a left-back in the summer anyway, but because of the element of needing to get rid of Zinchenko and then trying to get somebody in the last week, we can say that they’re definitely still trying.”
Do you think that City are in need of a new left-back?
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TIF Thoughts…
From Lee’s comments, it would seem as if the club is indeed in the market for a new left-back, as well as are hoping to move Zinchenko on in order to help facilitate this potential incoming move.
However, as previously stated, with the transfer deadline being 5th October, City do not have long if they are to firstly, sell the 23-year-old, and secondly, bring in a new player in the position.
So, this is something that we will be keeping a very close eye on over the coming days.