Liverpool expected to let Man City sign 21-year-old star this summer – journalist

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Liverpool aren’t interested in potentially hijacking Manchester City’s move to sign Josko Gvardiol.

Gvardiol had appeared on the verge of joining City in July, but talk of a deal being done proved to be premature. This has led to some vague suggestions that Liverpool could jump in on the transfer at the eleventh hour.

However, according to journalist Ben Jacobs, that’s unlikely to be the case. Writing for Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing on Substack, Jacobs weighed in on the Gvardiol situation.

“Manchester City are still focused on signing Josko Gvardiol,” says the journalist. “RB Leipzig sports director Max Eberl recently denied an agreement was in place last month. 21-year-old Gvardiol is valued around €100m [£86m]. If Manchester City succeed, they will definitely have to make Gvardiol the most expensive defender in football history.

“Eberl said he was “surprised” by talk of an agreement being done, adding Leipzig and Manchester City were “very far apart” in valuation. But there was certainly a point last month where Manchester City felt a deal was close. Leipzig have also been irked by how publicly negotiations have played out.

“Although we are hearing reports of a last-ditch Liverpool or Manchester United bid, I sense that’s just to provoke Manchester City into matching Leipzig’s terms.

“Liverpool do like Gvardiol, and the Croatian spent much of his youth watching Liverpool games with his father. But I would still be surprised if they move to hijack given the price.”

Liverpool leave Gvardiol to City

At a younger, more innocent time this summer, the prospect of Gvardiol joining Liverpool looked genuinely possible.

Okay, it would still have been a stretch alongside Jude Bellingham, but it felt like something that was being looked into.

Several months on, and it’s very clear that this isn’t the case.

As Jacobs points out, Liverpool are obviously fans of the Croatian. But then again, they were also big, big admirers of Bellingham. If finances weren’t an issue then perhaps the Reds would have signed them both.

But that simply isn’t the reality that the Reds are living in. They know that they have to make their money go further this summer and with that in mind there’s still more work to be done.

Bringing in Gvardiol may solve a couple of issues in Liverpool’s defence and with their new system. It wouldn’t, however, sort out the problem of who is going to play in defensive midfield for Jurgen Klopp.

As a result, although they may be a little envious about it, the Reds simply aren’t going to anything about City signing Gvardiol. And we’re okay with that.