Manchester City aren’t short of options in the playmaker role with Jack Grealish, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden at their disposal, but Christian Falk of SportBild says they’re after another attacking-midfielder – Florian Wirtz.
Falk reports that City are ‘scouting’ the 18-year-old ‘intensely’ but have competition from Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Bayern Munich for his signature. Wirtz has been in fine form at Bayer Leverkusen this season, so it’s no surprise clubs are starting to take notice.
The German international joined Leverkusen from FC Koln in January 2020 and has gone on to make 53 appearances in all competitions, scoring 14 goals with 12 assists. Wirtz has made six appearances in all competitions this season, scoring five goals with four assists, so he’s enjoying the best form of his career.
Wirtz has created 11 chances in five league games, making 7/9 successful dribbles and averaging a tackle (7) or interception (3) every 29 minutes, so he’s got all the attributes Pep Guardiola would want in a player. The 18-year-old won’t come cheap, however, as his market value is £40.5m and he has five more years remaining on his deal at the BayArena.
Time will tell where Wirtz ends up.
In other news, Riyad Mahrez was effective against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night