Somewhat out of the blue, Manchester City have overtaken everyone in the race to sign Dusan Vlahovic.
Pep Guardiola’s side had been focused for quite some time on trying to sign Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur, but Daniel Levy’s reluctance to let the England international go has forced them to look elsewhere less than two weeks from the end of the transfer window.
That’s where the Serbian comes in, and claims on Wednesday suggested the Premier League champions were ready to offer €80m to sign the Fiorentina star.
This was followed, rather quickly, by the Serie A side’s owner, Rocco Commisso, to come out and say that a fee of €100m or so would be tough to say no to, which could easily be translated as ‘we want a lot of money, and would probably accept less than €100m’.
That’s what Corriere Fiorentino report on Thursday, making it clear that despite the American businessman’s words, the idea is that ‘whoever reaches €70m, perhaps with the inclusion of bonuses that raise the figure to almost €80m, takes Dusan home’.
For Gazzetta dello Sport, the matter is very clear: ‘the next 24 hours will be decisive for the future of Vlahovic’.
First, Fiorentina will try and get him to sign a renewal of €4m/year with a release clause of €70m.
However, if that doesn’t please the player and Manchester City offer €80m + bonuses, ‘the operation has a big chance of taking place’.
So, it’s now time for the Premier League side to put their money where their mouth is.
