Guardiola confirms Manchester City deal with Croatia defender

The coach Pep Guardiola confirmed this Friday (4) the settlement of the manchester city with the Croatian defender Josko Gvardiolaged 21, who drew attention for his performances for Croatia in the World Cup and RB Leipzig, from Germany. Still without an official announcement from the English club, the signing was already being widely discussed by the European press.

“About Gvardiol – what a beautiful last name he has – he is undergoing medical tests”, said the Spanish coach, playing with the similarity between his last name and the athlete’s, during a press conference two days before the decision of the Super Cup of England, against the Arsenal. “Everybody knows he’s here and I hope we can finalize the contract in the next few hours or days.”

According to the English press, City spent 90 million euros (R$ 482.6 million) to remove the young Croatian from RB Leipzig. The value is higher than the record transactions involving defenders in English football: the 80 million pounds paid by Manchester City to sign the now questioned Harry Maguire, in 2019, from Leicester, and the 75 million pounds received by Southampton to sell Virgil. van Dijk to Liverpool in 2018.

Gvardiol was one of the highlights of Croatia during the campaign that took the European team to the semi-finals of the World Cup. In the quarterfinals, Brazil was the victim of the young defender and his teammates. At RB Leizpig, he played the last two seasons as a starter and was twice champion of the German Cup.

The new reinforcement should not be available for the game of the Super Cup of England, scheduled for 12:00 (Brasília time), on Sunday. The single-game tournament opens the 2023/2024 season for the English and puts Manchester City, current national champion, and Arsenal, winner of the FA Cup, face to face.