In December 2022, we covered claims from Italy that Manchester City were strongly interested in a young midfielder by the name of Nicolò Rovella.
At the time, Rovella was 21-years-of-age, and in 2021 Juventus had paid Genoa €26m to acquire his registration before sending him back to Genoa on loan.
Manchester City were said to be willing to pay €30m for the youngster, but nothing came of it.
A further loan to Monza followed and then in August 2023, Juventus loaned Rovella to Lazio on a two year loan deal with a conditional purchase obligation.
Lazio now have control over the player’s future and Il Messaggero report a ‘shock €40m offer’ could take the midfielder to Manchester City.
The idea is that Rovella would provide some cover for Rodri for the rest of the season and then the 23-year-old could grow from there.
Rovella is said to be quite attached to Lazio now, but the Rome club are presented as being keen on a sale that would bring them a big capital gain as well as enough to buy a replacement.
Whether Manchester City go through with it this time remains to be seen.
