The Manchester City boss was angry when the club decided to pull out a transfer of £66.8m.
It’s been a tough week for Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola. Guardiola’s City lost its first Premier League game this season. They lost 2-0 to Chelsea. To add more misery to it, Manchester City pulled out a transfer of £66.8m. The former Bayern boss was desperate to get that deal done, but it seems the club has pulled out.
Manchester City backed out of plans to complete a £66.8 million deal for Ajax midfielder Frenkie de Jong on Thursday, Simon Mullock reports for the Sunday Mirror. The young Dutch prodigy was Pep Guardiola’s number one midfield target to succeed Fernandinho.
De Jong has been heavily linked with a move to the Etihad Stadium, with reports going as far as to claim a deal was close. And according to the Mirror, City had a secret three-and-a-half-hour meeting with Frenkie in London last month, with Guardiola believing the midfielder was Etihad-bound.
However, less than 24 hours before they planned to fly into Amsterdam to formalise a club-record deal for next summer, City chiefs informed Ajax that they were putting the transfer ‘on ice’.
Mullock claims that Guardiola is ‘angry and frustrated’ at this move. It seems this is related to the ongoing Financial Fair Play concerns. City may miss out playing Champions League if found guilty. However, it seems Guardiola has missed out on yet another target who had seemed close. This is not the first time the Premier League champions missed out on a signing this close.
In the early days of Pep’s charge at Etihad, he missed out on a deal for Dani Alves, who later on joined Paris Saint Germain. This year, he missed an opportunity to sign Alexis Sanchez who joined Manchester United. In the summer he lost Fred and Jorginho, who joined Manchester United and Chelsea.
Author’s take:
Guardiola is right to remain angry. He is working hard to get a replacement of Fernandinho. The Brazilian is the most important player for Guardiola. The fact that he is getting old has made Pep and City look for his replacement in the market. However, it seems City will have a tough time in signing his replacement.
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