Man City dealt blow as 17 y/o transfer target signs new deal

Manchester City have been linked with a move for Real Betis midfielder Dani Perez and may have to battle Real Madrid for his signature, but they’ve been dealt a major blow after Betis extended his contract.

✍️ @daniperez_8 2⃣0⃣2⃣5⃣

¡A SEGUIR EN CASA, DANI ! 💚 pic.twitter.com/9n2ANyhI3k

— 𝙻𝚘𝚜 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚋𝚊𝚜® | 🏆🏆🏆 (@los_comegambas) October 5, 2022

Perez has signed a new deal until 2025 and is expected to make the step up to the first-team after playing in Betis’ reserves, so the Spanish outfit are unlikely to sanction a sale.

The 17-year-old, who has represented Spain at U18 level, was part of Betis’ first-team during pre-season, so he’s knocking on the door of the senior squad and looks to have a bright future.

Pep Guardiola has named four teenagers in his matchday squad this season (Rico Lewis, Josh Wilson-Esbrands, Luke Mbete, Liam Delap) and has given three of them minutes on the pitch (Lewis, Wilson-Esbrands, Mbete), so there’s a pathway to the first-team for youngsters.

Having Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan and Guardiola to learn from would be an excellent education too, so City are an attractive proposition. But Real are a Spanish club who paid Betis £15m to sign Dani Ceballos in 2017, so they’ve been in this situation before with a highly-rated midfielder.

Perez’s new deal is likely to cool the transfer rumours for the time being, however.

In other news, Man City won’t sell Nathan Ake to Inter Milan despite report from Italy

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