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Man City could pay upwards of £85m for Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo, according to journalist Fabrizio Romano.
The Dutchman has already agreed personal terms ahead of his switch to the Etihad Stadium, having rejected the opportunity to join Tottenham.
Gakpo has had a good start to the season for his club, but supporters on X are worried they are overpaying for the winger:
85m for Gakpo is crazy work..
I'd not spend anything more than £70m
— 🍍陈 恩𓃵 🇳🇬 (@__mfonobong) August 30, 2026
Underwhelming signing , we are better than Liverpool we are not weakening them one bit & in the same breath we are not making us stronger , ask the question if he is that good why are they selling one of there so called top players ??
— TonytheManc (@tonythemanc) August 30, 2026
Really unsure about this one.
— Ctg2010 (@Ctg20102) August 30, 2026
85 is too much
— Sai (@EscoSaitama) August 30, 2026
Would rather get Ndiaye and move Semenyo over the left wing where he plays the best
— Rio Hanma (@hanma_rio) August 30, 2026
Gakpo’s move will only be finalised on one condition
Romano has said that Liverpool will only sign off on the 27-year-old’s transfer to City if they manage to bring in a replacement within the last couple of days of the transfer window.
The Merseysiders have already lost out on PSG’s Ibrahim Mbaye to Aston Villa, while they have also had bids rejected for both Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr and Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh.
There is no guarantee they will sign someone to replace Gakpo, so City will need to have a contingency plan in place.
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Do Man City have alternatives lined up?
Everton’s Iliman Ndiaye was under consideration, but the 26-year-old has agreed to join Tottenham in a deal worth £60m.
Another winger who could potentially be pursued is Chelsea’s Pedro Neto, but that deal will be complicated for several reasons.
The Blues have reportedly slapped a £100m asking price on the Portuguese international, which is not a fee that the Cityzens would have been prepared to pay anyway.
On top of that, discussions are also underway to secure the services of Neto’s teammate, Enzo Fernandez, and you can’t see Chelsea agreeing to offload both players to the same club before the transfer deadline, especially as they would want to replace both of them.
Neto started and scored against Brighton on Sunday afternoon, so it is not as if he is deemed surplus to requirements either.