Manchester City table move for Barcelona academy starlet on brink of relegation | OneFootball

Manchester City are keeping tabs on Barcelona academy teenager Guille Fernandez ahead of the summer transfer window, as per reports in Spain.

The 2023 treble winners have endured a disappointing season by all accounts and will see playmaker Kevin De Bruyne bid farewell to the club at the end of the season, with the Belgian keen to drag his side over the line to next season’s UEFA Champions League before his exit.

City also remain in the running to bring home the club’s eighth FA Cup title and will face Nottingham Forest in the semi-final at Wembley after coming from behind to claim a hard-fought 2-1 quarter-final win away at Bournemouth in March.

Hugo Viana will take over from Txiki Begiristain as director of football in the coming months and the Portuguese, who started work last week after attending the recent goalless Manchester derby at Old Trafford, is set to conduct a thorough audit of Pep Guardiola’s squad in the remainder of the campaign.

Several first-team stars who have been pivotal to Guardiola’s success over the years could be shown the exit door in the summer, with many expected to hand in transfer requests to move elsewhere and pursue new challenges.

Ederson, Kyle Walker, Stefan Ortega Moreno, Jack Grealish, John Stones, Bernardo Silva and Matheus Nunes are amongst those in the first-team who could leave Manchester City at the end of the season.

Guardiola confirmed after City’s recent 5-2 thumping of Crystal Palace that Ilkay Gundogan has met the requirements of an automatic one-year extension entered into his Manchester City contract when he returned from Barcelona last summer.

City are expected to be active in the coming transfer window to address various areas of their squad that need investment after failing to challenge for the Premier League title this season and falling short in the Champions League Round of 16 against Real Madrid.

According to Mundo Deportivo, Manchester City are interested in signing Barcelona academy star Guille Fernandez as part of their squad revamp. Fernandez, 16, is yet to make his senior debut for the club despite having trained with Hansi Flick’s side several times this term.

However, the Spaniard is likely to be relegated into the Second Division with Barcelona’s reserve team and with a mountain of competition ahead of him in the first-team at his boyhood club, Fernandez has a long list of suitors if he wants to take the leap and pursue regular first-team football elsewhere.

Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City are all monitoring the young midfielder and it would be a major coup for the English champions if they are able to secure the arrival of one of Barcelona’s most highly-rated academy stars.