Manchester City have decided to walk away from the Florian Wirtz transfer saga.
The Bayer Leverkusen star was Pep Guardiola’s number one target for the summer transfer window as the German was seen as the perfect replacement for the departing Kevin De Bruyne.
After 10 years, De Bruyne will leave Man City this summer and in order to replace a player of the Belgian’s quality, an exceptional talent needs to be brought in.
Guardiola had identified that star, however, it was reported on Monday that Man City have backed out of the Wirtz saga as they deem the player to be too expensive.
Fabrizio Romano has now provided an update on the situation, and the transfer expert has revealed another reason why the Manchester club walked away.
Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
Manchester City wanted Florian Wirtz to decide his future faster
A deal for Wirtz was expected to cost Man City in the region of €300m (£252m) when both the transfer fee and salary are taken into account, which would make it the most lucrative deal in the club’s history.
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Although the money was an issue, Romano has also stated that he was told the timing was a problem for the Manchester club as well, who wanted the German star to make a decision faster.
“Manchester City have decided to leave the transfer saga for Florian Wirtz at the moment. Why? They believe internally at Man City that the player will be too expensive in terms of transfer fee, in terms of salary and commission, so many factors make this deal too expensive,” Romano said on his YouTube channel.
Romano would also go on to reveal: “I am also told that Man City wanted Florian Wirtz to be faster with his decision. Man City do not want to wait too long, Liverpool, for example, are willing to accept the player’s time.”
This would have been important to City as they hope to bring in at least four or five players this summer, and £252m is a very large sum to spend on just one player, therefore, they would have needed to know their budget before making other moves.
Man City are also interested in Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White, while AC Milan’s Tijjani Reijnders is an option for the number eight role in Guardiola’s team.
Both are also expected to cost a lot of money, therefore, the Manchester club feel it was smart to leave Wirtz behind and not smash their record transfer fee.
Photo by Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Photo by Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Man City’s most expensive signings
Wirtz would have comfortably smashed Man City’s record transfer fee, which is currently held by Jack Grealish, who was signed from Aston Villa in 2021 as part of a £100m deal.
The Manchester club have poured money into their squad over the years, however, City have never been big fans of paying huge transfer fees, hence why Wirtz was a problem.
Player Transfer fee
Jack Grealish £100m
Josko Gvardiol £76m
Kevin De Bruyne £64m
Omar Marmoush £63m
Ruben Dias £60m
Man City’s most expensive transfers (fees via Transfermarkt)
It has been a tough few days for Guardiola as losing out on Wirtz will just add to the pain of being defeated in the FA Cup final on Saturday.
This summer is a huge one for the Spanish coach and Manchester City as the Premier League giants need to add to their squad smartly to bounce back next season.