{"id":625880,"date":"2023-08-02T09:16:19","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T13:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=625880"},"modified":"2023-08-02T09:28:14","modified_gmt":"2023-08-02T13:28:14","slug":"man-city-gvardiol-record-transfer-defender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2023\/08\/02\/man-city-gvardiol-record-transfer-defender\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester City Agree World-Record Transfer Fee for \u2018Incredible\u2019 Defender"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Manchester City have a &#8216;deal in place&#8217; with RB Leipzig for defender Josko Gvardiol for a fee of around \u00a378 million, according to a report from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fabrizioromano\/status\/1686718251168931840?s=46&amp;t=HDsqZHitx3ULxuPcRjHVEg\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fabrizio Romano<\/a>. This would be a world-record fee for a centre-back, and the defender is expected to undergo a medical on Friday should the clubs finalise details of the agreement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Manchester City Agree Fee for Josko Gvardiol from RB Leipzig<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>Long Transfer Saga for Manchester City Close to Wrapping Up<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reports in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FabrizioRomano\/status\/1672708232597348361\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">late June<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> stated that personal terms with the 21-year-old defender had been agreed, with Blues boss Pep Guardiola rating the defender highly and keen on the move. The deal has taken a very long time, but Romano has now reported that Gvardiol is set to become the most expensive centre-back transfer in history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At one stage, it looked as if the deal might fall apart, following leaks of a suggested <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fabrizioromano\/status\/1682091713026719745?s=46&amp;t=HDsqZHitx3ULxuPcRjHVEg\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">verbal agreement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> between the clubs. Now, finally, City look poised to sign their key summer target.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2023\/07\/28\/manchester-city-manchester-united-benjamin-pavard\/\" target=\"_self\">\u2018A Race Between Man City, Man Utd and Juventus\u2019: Plettenberg Releases Update On Spectacular Defender<\/a><\/p>\n<h3><b>Croatian Defender Has impressed With Club and Country<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A masked Gvardiol left a lasting impression on fans and pundits alike following his exceptional performances in the 2022 World Cup, as he helped guide Croatia to the 2022 World Cup semi-finals. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite his national side being comfortably beaten by Argentina 3-0, the then 20-year-old was praised as the breakout star in Qatar by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tntsports.co.uk\/football\/world-cup\/2022\/jurgen-klinsmann-names-josko-gvardiol-as-2022-world-cup-breakout-star-in-qatar-one-of-the-big-winner_sto9279599\/story.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jurgen Klinsmann<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The centre-back showed plenty of tributes at Leipzig which led Manchester City to believe he could fit in their system. A solid, left-footed central defender, he gives Guardiola options on the left and in the middle to compete with Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias. The Croatian was described as \u2018incredible\u2019 by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tntsports.co.uk\/football\/champions-league\/2022-2023\/clubs-want-him-in-the-premier-league-bt-sport-panel-praise-rb-leipzig-s-josko-gvardiol-after-perform_sto9509328\/story.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pundit Nedhum Onuoha<\/a> following his performances against his new club in the 2022-23 Champions League round-of-16.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Watch:\u00a0<\/strong>Pep Guardiola WILL DEFEND Manchester City&#8217;s Treble &#8211; Here&#8217;s How<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pep Guardiola Will DEFEND Manchester City&#039;s Treble - Here&#039;s How\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/I5NzGnlmCng?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><b>Chelsea Have\u00a0Previously Been in Negotiations for Josko Gvardiol<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Throughout the 2022\/23 season, Chelsea had been <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fabrizioromano\/status\/15988056783946\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in talks<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with Leipzig for the young prodigy, but the clubs failed to reach an agreement. Manchester City made their interest known quickly during the summer break and have been patient in their pursuit of Gvardiol. As a result, the club have sealed a deal for their top summer target.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>What Can Gvardiol do?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 21-year-old shows exemplary discipline for his age, he managed to not receive a single red card in the 2022\/23 Bundesliga season. He reads the game well and has shown a willingness to put his body on the line to stop shots or dangerous passes. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He will, however, need to reduce his tendency to rush towards the ball when facing counter-attacks, which has left his teammates outnumbered on a few occasions.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like any City defender, the Croatian&#8217;s passing and on-ball skills will set him apart from other high-profile defenders. He boasted an 84% pass completion rate in the 2022\/23 season and his ability to retain and progress the ball will be crucial to adjusting to the tactics of the treble-winning side.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2023\/08\/02\/fred-will-leave-manchester-united\/\" target=\"_self\">\u2018Will 100% Happen\u2019: Man Utd Midfielder Now Set to Leave; Red Devils Will Then Bid for \u2018Extraordinary\u2019 Replacement<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> He also shows exceptional passing across multiple ranges. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His output of completed short, medium and long passes per 90 places him in the 90th, 99th and 95th percentile of defenders in Europe\u2019s top 5 leagues, respectively. This ability should allow him to neatly progress the ball and play long-range switches to shift the tempo of Manchester City\u2019s build-up. He is also an elite ball carrier, with an ability to take on players in tight spots, completing 82% of his take-ons in the 2022\/23 season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gvardiol\u2019s mixture of ball-playing skills and defensive attributes should help him fit into the Manchester City defence comfortably once he has adjusted to their tactical system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Main image credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Etihad_Stadium.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cleria De Souza<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Category:CC-BY-2.0\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CC-BY-2.0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester City have a &#8216;deal in place&#8217; with RB Leipzig for defender Josko Gvardiol for a fee of around \u00a378 million, according to a report from Fabrizio Romano. This would be a world-record fee for a centre-back, and the defender is expected to undergo a medical on Friday should the clubs finalise details of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4759,"featured_media":625929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,3,28],"tags":[6583,6610,620],"class_list":["post-625880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-city","category-premier-league","category-transfers","tag-josko-gvardiol","tag-manchester-city-transfers","tag-rb-leipzig"],"modified_by":"Joe Blackburn, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4759"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}