With Sam Lee’s report for the Athletic breaking last night that Pep Guardiola had agreed on a contract extension with Manchester City the world champions can now plan for the future with clarity. Guardiola’s decision allows the club to plan for the future with Guardiola as manager. With that in mind, a new report has emerged indicating that Manchester City are now the favourites to land the ideal player to build their midfield around. That player is Bayer Leverkusen playmaker Florian Wirtz. If the report is proven to be correct City could be planning to add one of the premier young players in world football who could help lead the next era of success at the club.
Jason Pettigrove has reported for CaughtOffside that Manchester City are considered the favourites to sign Florian Wirtz. Furthermore, Pettigrove reports that the player’s preference is to join Pep Guardiola’s squad. Pettigrove also reports that Bayern Munich are pushing hard to sign Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen. Lastly, it is included in Pettigrove’s report that Liverpool, Chelsea and Real Madrid all have an interest in signing Wirtz.
Florian Wirtz would be the ideal player for Manchester City to build their midfield around.
It does appear that next summer may see Manchester City begin the rebuild of their midfield. Players such as Kevin De Bruyne do appear to be coming to the end of their time with the club. Replacing a player like De Bruyne will be no easy task. There’s an argument to be made that De Bruyne is almost irreplaceable. What he adds to Pep Guardiola’s squad and the impact he has made for the club has seen him become a legend at Manchester City. But Florian Wirtz could be the perfect player to replace De Bruyne in time.
Wirtz has risen to prominence in Xabi Alonso’s all-conquering Bayer Leverkusen side. He was a key player in their run to a Bundesliga/DFB Pokal double last season. Wirtz has carried that form into this season and looks to have taken his game to another level. He has scored 7 goals and added 2 assists in 17 appearances for Bayer Leverkusen. But what stands out is his control of games as a playmaker which does highlight his progression as a player. His goal-scoring ability stands out, and that, factored with his ability to pick a pass, makes him almost the ideal player for Manchester City to rebuild their midfield around.
Of course as with all transfers there is a lot to play our before we can consider Florian Wirtz a Manchester City player. There will likely be countless more reports to come that concern the future of the German international. But Jason Pettigrove’s report paints a promising picture for the world champions. If you were going to pick a player for Pep Guardiola to rebuild City’s midfield around Florian Wirtz would be close to the top of the list. It now is a matter of waiting to see if that is the direction the champions go next summer with their transfers.
