Bayer Leverkusen attacker Florian Wirtz has turned down a move to Pep Guardiola’s Man City after a ‘last-minute’ U-turn, according to reports.
The Citizens have had a poor season by their high standards with Guardiola’s side currently fifth in the Premier League table after 29 matches.
Man City won four consecutive Premier League titles before this season but their only chance of silverware this season now comes in the FA Cup after they were knocked out of the Champions League at the Round of 16 stage.
Pep Guardiola recently signed a new contract, while star striker Erling Haaland also put pen to paper on a mega deal, and that news points to confidence surrounding the 115 charges levelled at them by the Premier League for alleged breaches of financial fair play rules.
Whatever the outcome of their case, Man City will need to invest in some new players in the summer transfer window and Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder Wirtz has been consistently linked as a top target.
However, reports in Spain claim the Germany international has now chosen to ‘dump’ Guardiola and Man City to ‘negotiates a last-minute’ U-turn to another club.
It is understood that ‘the young German talent has decided to pass up the City option and is now in serious negotiations with another club’.
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Wirtz is instead keen on heading to Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich in the summer transfer window, the reports adds:
‘Despite Manchester City being willing to make an astronomical offer , the player prefers to stay in the Bundesliga and make the move to the Bavarian giants, a club that has historically attracted the best players in German football.
‘Bayern Munich sees Wirtz as the ideal replacement for Thomas Müller , who is already in the final stages of his career. With his talent and youth, the Leverkusen midfielder could become the team’s attacking leader for the next decade . Furthermore, the possibility of staying in Germany and playing for a team with strong Champions League aspirations would have convinced the player.
‘This turn of events is a major blow to Pep Guardiola , who saw Wirtz as an ideal player for his Manchester City team . With the possible departure of players like Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne , the Spanish coach was looking to strengthen his squad with a young player with experience in elite football.’
There were reports in January that Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim had ‘requested’ three ‘bombshell signings’ for the summer with Wirtz, Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyokeres and Paris Saint-Germain’s Achraf Hakimi the trio of targets.
There have been some pundits question whether Guardiola will even be at Man City next season, despite signing a new deal, and ex-Man Utd defender Mikael Silvestre insists the “biggest challenge of his managerial career” is to perform when his energy is low.
Silvestre told yaysweepstakes.com: “We can’t question Pep’s desire or commitment to want to try and get Manchester City back to the top of English football again.
“Pep’s super passionate about football. The energy you need to be the best or obsessed with football like Pep is 24/7.
“At some point, when he goes into the press conference after the game, you can maybe feel he’s tired, but he probably wants to share his emotions with the media.
“This is probably the biggest challenge of his managerial career. You’re not always 100%, sometimes the energy is lower. I think he wants to prove he can succeed again.
“The good thing is he has the financial capabilities to go in the market to refresh and rebuild his squad. It’s going to be hard making the right recruitment choices, but I don’t think there is any doubt in his mind that he is the right man for the situation.”
