“RB Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol: Man City faces high asking price”

According to sources at talkSPORT, RB Leipzig will demand a fee of at least £75million for the sale of defender Josko Gvardiol to Manchester City. Pep Guardiola, the City boss, is reportedly targeting Gvardiol along with his Croatia teammate and Chelsea midfielder, Mateo Kovacic. The current world record fee for a defender is the £80million that Manchester United paid Leicester for Harry Maguire in 2019. Gvardiol was previously on the radars of Chelsea and Manchester United earlier this year, but RB Leipzig manager Marco Rose claimed in February that the defender would be staying at the club. Gvardiol was one of the standout players at the World Cup, helping Croatia to a third-place finish in Qatar. He has made 41 appearances for Leipzig this season, scoring three goals. Meanwhile, talkSPORT understands that Chelsea are open to selling Kovacic too, with new manager Mauricio Pochettino looking to reshape his squad. It is understood that Kovacic and City have already held positive talks regarding personal terms.