Manchester City find themselves on a decent run of form, which has seen them remain unbeaten in their previous six games in the Premier League and FA Cup.
With an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest to look forward to this weekend, especially as the competition represents the only chance they have of silverware this season, Pep Guardiola will be desperate for a win.
With just five league games left between now and the end of the campaign, City are yet to guarantee a top-five finish, which will see them secure qualification for the Champions League for the 15th year in a row.
It promises to be an exciting end to the season for the club. If FA Cup glory is achieved, plus a solid finish in the top flight, Guardiola could enter the summer with some renewed hope of starting a fresh era at the Etihad.
After several signings made during the winter transfer window, the Spaniard is already thinking ahead to the summer equivalent as one of Europe’s top young talents is being earmarked for a move to City.
Man City’s summer transfer plans
With Kevin De Bruyne set to depart the Etihad Stadium this summer, City will be in the market for a new attacking midfielder.
Morgan Gibbs-White, Nottingham Forest’s mercurial playmaker, has already been earmarked for a possible summer switch but the Citizens may have to pay upwards of £100m.
The England international isn’t the only player on City’s radar in the attacking midfield positions, however.
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Indeed, according to Football Insider, Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Florian Wirtz remains the number one target for City to replace De Bruyne this summer.
German publication Bild reported last week that City could be set to pay the £129m fee that the German side has set for the player, although Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are also showing plenty of interest in the German international.
This high fee could give City a major advantage over the other teams, as detailed by former City financial advisor Stefan Borson who told Football Insider: “The impression I get is that they see Wirtz as that kind of headline signing to replace Kevin De Bruyne, and they recognise that to do that deal is going to cost what it costs.
“I think in some ways City might quite like the fact that that is the price because it pretty much rules out Real Madrid from the situation, and it possibly also rules out Bayern Munich as well.”
Replacing the ageing Belgian with someone who has the world at their feet could boost their confidence heading into next season, no doubt about that.
He is also comparable to another young maestro who is making waves on the continent – Lamine Yamal.
Why Wirtz could be Man City’s very own Yamal
Yamal has been breaking records since he made his Barcelona debut at the age of just 15 years, nine months and 16 days in April 2023, becoming the youngest-ever debutant for the club in La Liga.
He hasn’t stopped there. A few months later, the winger made his debut for the Spanish national side aged just 16 and even scored, becoming both the youngest player and scorer for his country after the win over Georgia in September 2023.
At the 2024 European Championships, Spain won the title with Yamal playing a key role. His stunning goal in the semi-final against France set the nation on their way to an eventual 2-1 win, which powered them into the final.
He is on a fast track to greatness, and this season has been his most productive yet. Indeed, the 17-year-old has scored 14 times while grabbing 22 assists as Barcelona edges towards the La Liga title.
Although he plays in a different position to Wirtz, operating as a natural winger rather than an attacking midfielder, the two share some similar statistics this season.
Yamal is even the seventh-most comparable player to the Leverkusen star as per FBref.
The pair have registered similar statistics across a range of metrics in their respective domestic leagues, including goals and assists (19 vs 18), shots on target per 90 (1.26 vs 1.15), shot-creating actions per 90 (5.76 vs 5.53), touches in the attacking penalty area (122 vs 187) and successful take-on percentage (50.3% vs 49.6%) this season.
Shot-creating actions are pieces of play that lead to a shot. These include moments such as a pass, take-on or foul being drawn.
Should Guardiola get a deal for Wirtz over the line in the coming months, he could be signing his very own version of the Spanish superstar, that’s for sure.
Despite being only 21 years of age, it feels as though Wirtz has been around for a lifetime. He made his debut for Leverkusen during the 2019/20 season, even scoring in the Bundesliga.
The next two seasons saw him go from strength to strength, registering 18 goals and 22 assists for the club across just 69 matches. His emergence from raw talent into a potential world-class star was evident, but then disaster struck.
In March 2022, he suffered a cruciate ligament tear that saw him miss 43 games for club and country, ruling him out of the 2022 World Cup in the process.
This type of injury may have kept plenty of players down on their luck. Not Wirtz, who has arguably returned even stronger.
Football talent scout Jacek Kulig has previously hailed the 21-year-old as a “superstar”, and that is exactly what he was last season for Leverkusen. The club won the domestic double.
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Florian Wirtz’s stats for Leverkusen this season |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Metric |
Champions League |
Bundesliga |
|
Goals |
6 |
9 |
|
Assists |
1 |
10 |
|
Big chances created |
4 |
16 |
|
Key passes per game |
2.8 |
1.9 |
|
Successful dribbles per game |
2 |
2.7 |
|
Via Sofascore |
||
Throughout the 2023/24 Bundesliga season, Wirtz created 12 big chances, averaged 2.3 key passes per game and succeeded with 2.5 dribbles each match – a success rate of 51% – which helped the club claim their first ever league title.
Although Leverkusen won’t win any silverware this term, Wirtz has still contributed superbly, netting 15 goals along with recording 13 assists in all competitions.
He has yet to hit his peak and this is what is so enticing about the youngster. Guardiola will be able to push him towards becoming one of the best in the world should he end up at City this summer.
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