Manchester City now face the prospect of losing out on two of their top summer transfer targets after already having a £40 million bid for Liverpool forward Raheem Sterling rejected by the Reds.
Manger Manuel Pellegrini appear to be safe in his job for another season at least after former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola decided to do another season at Bayern Munich, but is under pressure to make City more competitive by bringing in some younger players.
Two of the players City would like to sign are Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba and Wolfsburg’s Kevin De Bruyne, but they could face difficulty on both counts as the pair look to snub the Premiership for other options.
Joan Laporte is seeking to become president at Barcelona and if elected has promised to bring Pogba to the Nou Camp saying: “The key to the signing is Mino Raiola [Pogba’s agent]. It is true I have a very good relationship with him and I believe that, if I am president, Pogba will play for Barcelona.
“I think it’s fine that the caretaker board meets with Juve, but the one they have to speak with is Raiola – he has the key.”
There was even talk yesterday that a deal has already been done between the Catalan giants and Juventus in which Pogba will play next season at Juventus before moving to Barcelona in the summer of 2016.
As for former Chelsea man De Bruyne, who by the way won the Bundesliga player of the year award, he feels he owes some loyalty to Wolfsburg for taking him in after his rough time at Chelsea and will most probably sign a new deal with the club knowing he has Champions League football to look forward to next season.
Speaking about the Belgium international, Wolfsburg director of sport, Klaus Allofs, said: “Kevin has a contract until 2019, so the signal has already been sent out. He will stay with us.
“We’ve said we will look at his contract. The aim is to take into account financially Kevin’s extraordinary development and I think we will reach an agreement here very quickly.”
What this now means for City is that they should pay Liverpool’s asking price of £50 million or risk out on seeing him sign for someone else as well.
