**Manchester City are amongst an array of Premier League sides keeping tabs on Ajax and Belgium defensive midfielder Jorthy Mokio, as per a new report.**
City have undergone a major rebuild in the recent transfer window, with the board handing the purse strings to newly-appointed director of football Hugo Viana to overhaul a squad that recorded a disappointing third-place Premier League finish last term and exited the UEFA Champions League at the Round of 16 stage.
Making seven signings in the summer transfer window – namely Rayan Ait-Nouri, Marcus Bettinelli, Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki, Sverre Nypan, James Trafford and Gianluigi Donnarumma – Manchester City have formed a new-look squad in their bid to dethrone Liverpool from the crown of Premier League champions.
Several senior stars integral to City’s success over the years under Guardiola left in the window, with Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker and former third-choice goalkeeper Scott Carson shown the door. James McAtee, Ederson and Ilkay Gundogan have also completed permanent moves to Nottingham Forest, Fenerbahce and Galatasaray respectively.
After a slow start to the 2025-26 Premier League campaign, marked by back-to-back losses against Tottenham and Brighton prior to the recent international break, City returned to winning ways on Sunday with a comfortable 3-0 beating of rivals Manchester United.
The months to follow will provide a thorough assessment of City’s recruitment this summer and whether the new-look group can mount a challenge on all fronts – a key theme of the successful sides Guardiola has built during his time as Manchester City manager.
City also sanctioned several season-long loans in the recent window, owing partly to the insistence of certain players to play regularly and partly to Guardiola’s recurring requests of working with a cut-throat, streamlined group.
Jack Grealish (Everton), Manuel Akanji (Inter Milan), Claudio Echeverri (Bayer Leverkusen), Sverre Nypan (Middlesbrough) and Vitor Reis (Girona) have all left City for the current campaign, with club bosses expected to be keeping a close eye on how their loanees fare at their respective clubs.
[TEAMtalk](https://www.teamtalk.com/liverpool/jorthy-mokio-man-utd-liverpool-ajax) have reported that Manchester City have entered a Premier League wide race to sign Ajax defensive midfielder Jorthy Mokio, with Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea all monitoring the Belgian’s contract situation in Amsterdam.
City are well stocked in the defensive midfield position for the seasons to come, with Ballon d’Or winner Rodri back from a long-term injury and Nico Gonzalez serving as understudy to his compatriot after joining from Porto in January.
Mateo Kovacic is also back in training after completing rehabilitation following surgery on his Achilles in the summer, which will give Guardiola additional depth to work with and rotate his playing XI as Manchester City compete on several fronts.
A move for Mokio is unlikely in the January window or even next summer, with on-loan youngster Nypan highly rated at the Etihad Stadium and expected to be integrated into Guardiola’s first-team ranks should he continue to impress at Middlesbrough.