Kevin De Bruyne leaves Manchester City at the end of the current season and the club has already started looking for a replacement – with a top objective in mind
Manchester City has identified Florian Witrz as the talent to replace Kevin De Bruyne – and the champions are willing to break the £ 100 million barrier to get the Bayer Leverkusen Wonder Boy. The decision of the city to not hand De Bruyne a contract extension was determined by their conviction that they can praise Wirtz away from the Bundesliga champions this summer.
New director of Voetbal Hugo Viana will be given the task of letting the deal happen – and will be armed with enough money to seduce Leverkusen to sell their appreciated assets. City met the £ 100 million buy-out clause from Aston Villa for Jack Grealish almost five years ago when Pep Guardiola made the midfielder his priority study.
The blues are willing to grow up again to land the 21-year-old Wirtz and will give him a huge increase on his current wages of £ 73,000 a week. Viana takes over from Txiki Begiristain at the end of the season and is expected to run the ground after being recruited from Sporting Lisbon.
City is ready to spend what is needed to rebuild the Guardiola team after having committed more than £ 170 million out of three new players during the winter transfer window. Wirtz is the no 1 -purpose after the Etihad club decided to give De Bruyne a new deal so that they could pour as many resources as possible to land the German international.
The wirtz deal in Leverkusen has two years to run – but the club is desperate to convince him to sign a new contract with both city and Bundesliga Rivals Bayern Munich.
Leverkusen has proposed an extension of two years until 2028. But Wirtz's advisers are supposed to insist on a release clause of £ 85 million to kick in after next year's world cup, while Leverkusen wants to set the bar on more than £ 125 milion
City believes that the club managed by Xabi Alonso prefers their star player to leave the Bundesliga. Whether Wirtz would take the risk of leaving Germany at the start of a season ending with the World Cup can be a problem.
But the fact that he has been identified by Guardiola to replace a midfield playmaker who has become a Premier League legend in the past decade will also be a factor. Wirtz, who scored 15 goals this season and has scored 13 assists, is currently sidelined by an ankle injury.
In his absence, Leverkusen of the pace fell into the Bundesliga and beaten out of the champions by Bayern. And in the Middle Week she suffered a 2-1 defeat in the semi-final of the German cup in the hands of the Third Division Arminia Bielefeld.
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