Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo.
A Liverpool star has been told he dodged a bullet by not moving to Manchester City
A Liverpool star has been told he “dodged a bullet” when he didn’t move to Manchester City, whose failure to land a €100million star has come to light.
City landed nine new signings in the summer window as Enzo Maresca added a lot of talent in his first window. The big names were the likes of Enzo Fernandez and Elliot Anderson.
They also missed out on some big names, after Cody Gakpo was said to be open to moving to the Etihad, before he ended up remaining with Liverpool, where he has a goal and three assists this season.
Writing for the Daily Star, Reds legend John Aldridge feels the forward got away with one there.
He wrote: ‘Cody Gakpo could have easily joined Man City in the summer. We don’t know what they were telling all these players they were after, but it looks like he has dodged a bullet, hasn’t he?’
Indeed, City have been found guilty of hundreds of breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules and could be relegated if their appeal is lost.
Aldridge feels a lot of big players will depart if that’s the case – Erling Haaland the big one.
He said: ‘All the City players’ agents now will be licking their lips. Because if City do go down, Haaland won’t be playing in the lower divisions. Will these players they’ve got, all world-class players, want to drop down and play there?
‘Or will they move to Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSG – get the same money as they get at City and go to a bigger club? That’s what the agents will be telling them, because they get more money by moving them on.
‘It’s more money by moving them on than giving them new contracts. So, the agents will be licking their lips looking at the situation if it arises. If they have to sell, Haaland’s the first one you’d want. I’d love him at Liverpool.’
City missed out on Aleksandar Pavlovic
Gakpo is not the only big-name player City were interested in signing in the summer.
Per German insider Florian Plettenberg, they wanted Bayern Munich’s Aleksandar Pavlovic, and he thought about the move before rejecting the Manchester club.
The insider wrote on X: ‘Manchester City had been pushing to sign Aleksandar Pavlovic since March. There were concrete talks.
‘FC Bayern were informed that #MCFC were prepared to pay up to €100m – long before they signed Bouaddi/Fernandez.
‘Pavlovic felt honoured by the interest and thought about it. But ultimately, he said NO. No negotiations with Bayern took place.’
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