Manchester City are reportedly prepared to launch a bid of £40m in order to land Bayern Munich superstar David Alaba.
The Sun have claimed that Manchester City are interested in securing the services of Bayern Munich star David Alaba. The Citizens have opened talks with the player’s representatives in the last two weeks in order to sound out the 24-year-old about the possibility of a move.
David Alaba is an Austrian international who has grown leaps and bounds during his time at Bayern Munich. The player has become a regular feature for the Bavarians and has come to be renowned as one of the best left-backs in Europe.
He is equally adept at playing at the centre of the defence and even as a holding midfielder, something which further adds to his reputation. Alaba has featured in all but 1 fixture of Bayern’s Bundesliga campaign thus far and has already notched up 2 assists in the 6 appearances.
Pep Guardiola has the likes of Aleksandar Kolarov and Gael Clichy as his options for the left-back position. While both of them have performed admirably thus far, Kolarov has, at times, been deployed centrally in the defence by the manager.
The pivotal factor, though, seems to be the age of the duo, with Kolarov and Clichy currently at 30 and 31. Guardiola seems to be looking to delve into the market for a young and fresher option at either side of the defence, who could possibly lock down the position for the next decade or so.
Guardiola played Alaba consistently while he was the manager of Bayern Munich and the Spaniard seems to have taken a liking to the player. As per the report, Guardiola has instructed City to acquire new full-backs for either side of the defence.
While City are being linked with Valencia’s Joao Cancelo as a possible addition to the right side of their defence, Guardiola is reported to rate Alaba very highly and is likely to have suggested the player too as a possible addition to his squad for the other side of the defence.
Manchester City, too, are likely to be more than happy to oblige their managerial maestro with the Citizens reported to be prepared to offer £40m in order to secure a transfer for the player.
Alaba had only recently signed a five-year contract extension at the club with basic wages of £75k per-week and is unlikely to agree to a move come January, at the very least.
As per the report, Citizens are well aware that a January deal would be hard to secure and are aiming to secure the player’s services in the summer transfer window of 2017.
The Citizens have also indicated that they would double the player’s £75k per-week wages if Alaba is to agree a move to Etihad.
It would be interesting to see if Pep Guardiola is able to prise away Alaba, a valuable member of the first-team squad, from his former employers.
