Strasbourg rejected a bid late in the window for striker Joaquin Panichelli, it has been revealed. And that bid could have come from Manchester City.
City were one of the more active Premier League clubs in the January transfer window, although they did get their incoming business done early by signing Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi. They did also loan out Claudio Echeverri and Kalvin Phillips, with Stefan Ortega and Oscar Bobb making permanent moves to Nottingham Forest and Fulham respectively.
But it has been revealed that French side Strasbourg rejected a €50million (£43million) bid for star striker Panichelli late in the window, with City one of the main clubs interested in signing him.
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Reports emerged on deadline day that City were plotting a late blockbuster move to bring in Panichelli, to offer Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush a bit more competition up front.
According to Alsa Sport, the €50million bid for Panichelli was not the only one rejected by Strasbourg, with €45million bids also coming in for for Guela Doue and Diego Moreira too - both of which were also rejected.
Panichelli is a highly sought after striker, having notched 11 goals in 20 Ligue Un games this season, with a further strike coming in the UEFA Conference League.
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Liam Rosenior
Liam Rosenior
New Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior was his manager at Strasbourg and, speaking after a 3-3 draw with Paris Saint-Germain earlier this season, during which Panichelli scored a brace, Rosenior spoke very highly of the 23-year-old.
He said: "The header is one of the best that I have seen live. The performance was one of the best centre-forward performances I have seen live, and it doesn’t surprise me, because he maximises himself in training every day. He works so hard.
“He has an unbelievable mentality, and he has brought a winning mentality to this group. His goals, the way he took them, was incredible, but he led the line incredibly today, and I was very proud of him.”
City boss Pep Guardiola did say after the 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday that his team were done with incoming signings and that proved to be the case in the end.
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But with City - alongside AC Milan - most heavily linked with a move for Panichelli, it may well have been them that tried to prise him away from France with a late bid.
Certainly, Panichelli's future will be one to watch in the summer if he continues his goalscoring form with the Alsa Sports report stating that "Racing categorically refused all three, wanting to keep them at least until the end of the season".