Pep Guardiola has asked his bosses at Manchester City for a new reinforcement to cover the loss of Rodri and may have his eye on Italy.
That’s according to Calciomercato, who report that Guardiola wants a signing to replace the Spaniard and is evaluating Nicolo Barella and Samuele Ricci to do so.
They report that interest in Barella is nothing new and has been in Guardiola’s sights since the Champions League final in Istanbul.
Inter Milan consider him untransferable and an offer worth more than €70m would need to be made just to get them to sit at the table.
Because of this, Manchester City are also looking at Torino midfielder Ricci, who is the ‘idea of the moment’ at the club.
He’s been posting impressive numbers in terms of the data, specifically when it comes to the percentage of successfully defender balls and in the event a transfer is sanctioned is considered a real alternative to Barella. Atalanta midfielder Ederson and Martin Zubimendi are also on the list.
For now, background work is simply being done ahead of January, when Guardiola would naturally want the replacement for Rodri to arrive.
That’s why reports in England have made it clear Manchester City will be sending scouts to Italy this weekend, to monitor both Barella and Ricci in action ahead of possible moves.
