Manchester City buy Joshko Guardiola for record €100m for a defender

Premier League club Manchester City are close to signing Croatian defender Josko Guardiola. According to The Guardian, Manchester United have agreed to pay German RB Leipzig €100 million for the player. This will make Guardiola the most expensive defender in history.

Manchester City have almost agreed terms for the acquisition of 21-year-old Croatian centre-back Josko Guardiola from Leipzig. According to The Guardian, on Wednesday, the football player, who had previously agreed on the terms of a personal contract, had already passed the first part of the medical examination preceding the signing of the contract. The publication claims that the transition process is in an advanced phase and it remains only to settle the formalities. Perhaps some delay in the announcement of the completion of the deal is due to the fact that it is linked to another transition – Manchester midfielder Riyad Mahrez is preparing to move to Saudi Al-Ahly for €30 million (Manchester City could get another €5 million in the form of bonuses). Still, the Manchester club, although its owners have “endless” financial resources, must at least pretend to follow the rules of financial fair-play. That is, before making an expensive purchase, you should also show some income from transfer activities.

But the new acquisition of Manchester is noteworthy primarily for the price that will be paid for it. Back in June, the management of Leipzig confirmed that Manchester were interested in Guardiol, offering € 90 million plus bonuses for him. At the same time, the German side demanded €100 million. And it seems that they have achieved their goal. Note that the Croat’s contract with Leipzig expires only in 2027. In 2025, the option of his unconditional buyout for €110 million will work. That is, Manchester could not expect a significant reduction in the value of the player.

There have not been many players in history who have cost €100m or more to transfer (Manchester City have only once paid more for a player – €117.5m to Aston Villa for Jack Grealish in 2021).

According to Transfermarkt, there are only 16 of them (Neymar’s transfer from Barcelona to PSG in 2017 remains the largest deal – € 222 million). Moreover, all members of the super-elite club are either forwards or midfielders. Thus, Guardiol will become the most expensive defender in history. In the meantime, this remains Harry Maguire, who moved in 2019 from Leicester to Manchester United for € 87 million.

It is noteworthy that Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola already has five central defenders at his disposal: Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Ake, John Stones (however, the coach often uses them not in their “native” positions). And yet, the hundred millionth Guardiol was also needed, the most famous episode in whose career happened at the 2022 World Cup. In the semi-finals, the Croats lost to the Argentines with a score of 0:3, and one of the goals was organized by Lionel Messi. The feint with which he deceived Guardiola, who was guarding him, became one of the most memorable moments of the world championship.

But this is just a moment. And statistics show that Guardiol has grown a lot over the two seasons spent at Leipzig (in 2021, he was bought from Dinamo Zagreb for €18.8 million). According to the Goalimpact portal, which evaluates the usefulness of football players based on statistical data (mainly how many goals the team scored / conceded when the player was on the field, adjusted for various coefficients – the level of the opponent, the level of teammates, minutes played, the number of matches played, age, etc.), Guardiol’s current rating is 154.4 points. For comparison: Ruben Dias has 179.8, but the Portuguese is five years older than the Croat. When Dias was 21, his rating was only 139.4 points. And if Guardiola manages to fully develop Guardiol’s potential, he could very well grow into an extremely useful player for the team.

Alexander Petrov