City Xtra
·3 October 2024
City Xtra
·3 October 2024
Officials at Manchester City have now been made aware of how much they will need to pay in order to sign Torino’s Samuele Ricci, according to reports in Italy.
Conversations surrounding Manchester City and recruitment in the January transfer window has intensified over the last few days after the club were issued with the worst possible news concerning the injury to defensive midfield mainstay Rodri.
Having sustained a serious knee injury in the dramatic 2-2 draw with Arsenal last month, Rodri underwent surgery in Madrid before the Premier League champions were told that the player would miss the remainder of the season following ACL and meniscus damage.
For now, Pep Guardiola and his coaching staff are continuing to work on solutions to Rodri’s absence which has so far featured the likes of Rico Lewis, Mateo Kovacic, Manuel Akanji, and Ilkay Gundogan operating in pairs in the position.
But the winter transfer market could spike Manchester City’s attention over possible reinforcement into their squad ahead of the business end of the season, and the latest information has drawn the club over to the Italian game.
According to Tuttomercatoweb, Manchester City will need to pay a transfer fee of close to €40 million for Torino’s Samuele Ricci, should they want the Italy international to replace Rodri in the upcoming January transfer window.
As translated and relayed by Sport Witness, it is unsurprisingly pointed out that Ricci’s current club Torino have no intention of giving up their 23-year-old ‘on the cheap’, with admirers in Italy plentiful too including AC Milan.
Torino are currently aware of the growing interest in their player and are reportedly moving to try and protect the midfielder via a new contract, which is currently running until the summer of 2026 but including a salary of less than €1 million per year.
Earlier reports from English press had stated that Samuele Ricci was marked high on Manchester City’s list of options should they decide they need to make a move in the January transfer window to cover Rodri’s absence.
Commenting on whether Manchester City would like for reinforcements in the January market, Pep Guardiola told a recent press conference, “We will see, we talked with Txiki [Begiristain] and we’ll see how it’s going. We don’t have to decide tomorrow, right?
“We have time to see potential problems we have, and we’ll see… Right now, we are not thinking to find anyone. But the scouting, or the department from Txiki, of course they are always connected to players.”