There’s the potential for that to reach €12.5m eventually, although that’s still seen as a bargain and there’s a reasonable chance the player will have been sold for a huge profit before then.

A Bola report on the interest coming specifically from Premier League sides, and how the defender could end up being one of the club’s biggest sales of all time.

Pep Guardiola’s side are credited with interest, with A Bola stating ‘the giant Manchester City’ are one of those clubs hovering for the signing.

That means there’d have to be movement in defence at Manchester City, and would be one of the reasons why a summer transfer is likelier for Diomande than in the winter.

A Bola go on to say that Sporting would point to the player’s €80m clause for a winter move. That would still be the price in the summer, however, there may be the chance to make up part of that via bonuses.

Manchester City are just one of several Premier League clubs to have been linked, and it remains to be seen whether the hype turns into a move to England.

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There was anger with officials, but the annoyance will be more widespread than that. Whilst City’s quest to retain the Premier League title isn’t going badly, it doesn’t really feel like it’s in full swing yet.

Jeremy Doku has been one of the bright points for Guardiola so far this season, so seeing him go off injured against Spurs will have been something of a blow.

Belgian newspaper HLN cover the situation today, and say that whilst the Manchester City manager didn’t want to say anything after the match, there were voices around the club talking about tests in the ‘coming hours and days’.

Those tests will determine how long Doku is out of action for.

HLN rightly point to worry given the attacker had injury issues at Rennes, and keeping him fit had been a big part of Manchester City’s success so far with the signing.

Now it’s a case of wait and see.

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Pep Guardiola’s side have enjoyed a good start to the season and are still thinking about strengthening the squad for the near future.

That’s according to TV Play, who state Manchester City are looking to bolster their midfield and defence.

For midfield, the Citizens’ idea is to bring in a young player who can immediately start to feature under Guardiola. Therefore, they have set their sights on the 22-year-old, who has impressed for the Ligue 1 side this season.

The Serie A side are also interested in the France international, with a contract until 2025.

Club Brugge’s Tajon Buchanan is the ‘first name’ on Manchester City’s list for defence.

The 24-year-old has mainly been used as a right-back this season, scoring three goals and registered four assists from 18 games. The Canadian has been on the Juventus and Inter Milan radar for some time.

The Serie A duo will continue to monitor him, but are aware it’s ‘very difficult’ to compete with Manchester City.

It’s claimed the English champions are ‘ready to invest’ €60m to secure the duo’s services and hand a ‘double blow’ to Juve and Inter in the process. The figure is out of reach for the two Italian clubs, for whom the ‘disappointment of the missed shots is ever closer’.

TV Play, however, don’t specify the fee requested/needed to sign the Frenchman and Buchanan.

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The 24-year-old has been impressing in Portugal this season with four goals and four assists in 16 games in all competitions to date, leading to a conversation with Leonino today.

That means he’s already matched his tally from last season, when he matched the same numbers in 40 games in all competitions.

The winger’s playing style is one based on speed and dribbling, with him preferring to run at defenders and create chances for himself and his teammates, much like Grealish at Manchester City and Aston Villa before it.

Their styles are very similar, with Grealish a winger who is very much a wide man rather than the high scoring, centrally playing forwards that many wingers have become in recent years.

It’s a comparison he’s more than aware of but he insists he doesn’t see it himself, and even jokes that he’ll be better than the Manchester City man.

“If he imitated me? Not because I’m younger. I like him a lot, so being compared to him is fantastic,” he said.

“I laugh a lot about that, I don’t care at all. It would be bad if I was compared to a bad player, but Grealish is a good player.

“He plays in the Champions League and, on top of that, for Manchester City. They say we look alike, especially because of our hair. I’ll be a lot better than him as a player.”

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That’s according to Manchester City academy coach Mustafa Alper Avci, who has revealed that the City Group’s plans to expand are continuing.

The Manchester City owners have been scooping up clubs around the world since taking over at the Etihad, with City at the top of their tree.

Since that takeover they’ve bought New York City, Melbourne City, Yokohama F. Marinos, Montevideo City Torque, Girona, Sichuan Jiuniu, Lommel SK, Troyes, Palermo and Bahia.

Their ongoing plan is to have a connected group of clubs around the world, allowing them to scoop up talent from all four corners for their various projects.

That’s something they’re continuing to work on, with the belief that they could end up owning football clubs everywhere possible should FIFA and UEFA not work to block such arrangements or limit them further in future.

Avci has confirmed as much, revealing that the current focus for Manchester City’s owners is Turkey, Finland and Korea.

“City Group is a company that invests in football in many countries of the world,” Ajansspor report him saying.

“Among the teams purchased by City Group, the most important is Manchester City, apart from Palermo, Troyes and Girona.

“City Group has an idea of ​​purchasing teams in Turkey, Finland and Korea. I hope this will come true and an exemplary model will be created in our country.”

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However, it appears he is also a man of principle who respects his former clubs to the point where he is reluctant to sign players from there after leaving them.

This is what Martí Perarnau revealed to AS on Friday in an interview about his new book about the seven years Guardiola has spent at Manchester City.

Nearly 700 pages long, the ‘autopsy’, as it’s described, ‘God Save Pep’ will come out in England on March 19th in paperback format, where a lot will be revealed about the Spaniard’s time in the north of England.

Perarnau was also happy to answer a few questions about some details, such as the idea that Manchester City came close to signing Lionel Messi from Barcelona.

Saying that it was an ‘urban legend’ that Guardiola wanted to sign Barcelona’s best players, he then touched upon the rumours surrounding the Argentine football legend.

He said: “It was Messi who offered himself. The one who knocked on the door was Leo (the Argentine striker’s entourage denies this). Pep had his reticence. He is very clear not to touch Barça and not to touch Bayern. City had a list of Bayern players to sign, and Pep told Txiki not to touch anyone. And there was a lot of them, almost al of them except for the goalkeeper.”

Over the years since taking over in 2016, Guardiola has signed just one player from Barcelona (Claudio Bravo for €18m) and never purchased anyone from Bayern Munich.

He has, however, agreed to send players the other way, as Leroy Sane was sold to Bayern Munich for €49m, while João Cancelo has been on loan both to the German and Spanish sides.

As for Eric García, Sergio Agüero and Ilkay Gündogan, they all left Manchester City for Barcelona on free transfers.

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However, ever since he signed and moved to the Etihad, there has been talk of Real Madrid buying him down the lines, with rumours and wild claims of a release clause somewhere in his contract.

The Manchester City star’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta, has constantly been badgered about this by the media, and when Calciomercato.it managed to speak with her, they brought the matter back up one more time.

A while ago, the representative explained that Haaland could be worth £1bn one day, which led to a lot of headlines and articles being published.

She explained what she meant: “After what I said, I read rumours that spoke of a £1bn clause that Real Madrid would have set for a player (Rodrygo, ed). In any case, with Erling, I wasn’t just referring to his price, but to everything that revolves around him: clubs, sponsors, jerseys.

“Certainly, Haaland’s path will reach these figures. As for the clause, it’s a way for clubs to say ‘I decide’. However, I believe that if we want a peaceful future, we have to face one another.”

While rather vague, it does appear that she believes the Manchester City player will be worth £1bn one day or another.

As for the supposed release clause, that will remain a mystery until it gets triggered or Haaland signs a new contract with his current club, where he is currently tied to until the end of the 2026-27 season.

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The 17-year-old was part of the club’s youth system before he was promoted to the first team earlier this year. Although Echeverri has made only four senior appearances, he’s managed to ‘enchant’ many European clubs, including Manchester City.

That’s mainly because of the attacking midfielder’s fine displays for Argentina at the U17 World Cup, where he managed five goals and an assist from six games.

His deal lasts until December 2024 and River Plate want to hand him an extension. The player, who has ‘extraordinary qualities’, has attracted interest from several clubs.

Juve sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli would be keen on bringing him to Italy, but that won’t be easy because a ‘very serious problem’ has emerged in the last few hours. That, as per the report, is Manchester City.

It’s claimed the Citizens are keeping a close eye on Echeverri and it’s possible that Pep Guardiola himself ‘is pushing for his purchase’.

According to TV Play, the teenager has a €25m release clause and although their title says the treble winners will pay it, there isn’t anything within the report to back that up.

If Manchester City are keen on signing the player’, TV Play say then there’s ‘little hope’ for the Turin club.

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The right-back arrived at the Camp Nou on loan from Manchester City in the summer, without an option or obligation to buy. João Félix has also been on loan at Barca from Atlético Madrid since the last window.

‘Offensive for Joaos’ is written in bold on the front page of today’s Mundo Deportivo, who add the La Liga side are ‘seriously considering’ buying the duo in January.

The Catalan club ‘want to move forward’ with these two operations, by convincing their parent clubs to lower their demands.

The fullback and forward have impressed and if they continue to shine this season, Barca fear their asking price could rise and new contenders may arrive for them next summer.

To avoid this, Xavi Hernández’s side are trying to expedite deals for them in the winter market. They have an advantage because both Cancelo and Félix ‘prioritise’ staying at the Camp Nou.

The newspaper adds Cancelo doesn’t want to play under Pep Guardiola at the Etihad and is clear that his ‘career at the club is over’, more so if the coach is to stay there.

Mundo state Manchester City value the Portugal international at €25m, while Barcelona’s plan is to lower the asking price to €15m.

That obviously seems quite delusional.

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That’s according to journalist Martí Perarnau, who has detailed what happened last season and why Cancelo was eventually loaned to Barcelona in the summer after a similar spell at Bayern Munich.

Cancelo was one of the surprise deals of the January transfer window when he joined Bayern Munich on loan until the end of the season.

Few had seen that happening given the vital role he had played at Manchester City up to that point, establishing himself as one of the key players in their success and making himself on of the best attacking full backs in Europe.

He was shipped out again in the summer, joining Barcelona one a season-long long deal that the Catalans are hoping to turn into a permanent move at the end of the season.

A report yesterday indicated that Manchester City are willing to facilitate such a transfer thanks to the player’s ‘difficult relationship’ with Guardiola, something Perarnau has now provided a background to.

“When Cancelo feels ugly, and when I say ugly, I mean it metaphorically, for whatever reason, the collapse is very big,” Cadena SER report him saying.

“There was a phenomenon this beginning of the year, which was the appearance of Rico Lewis, at a time when Cancelo returned from the World Cup in a very poor state of form and Kyle Walker comes back.

“The only solution is going to be to put a 17-year-old player to play against Chelsea, Liverpool and against everyone. The kid is starting to put in extraordinary performances and is going to win the job, but Cancelo doesn’t want to accept that.”

He then added that Cancelo “demanded” to play, something which made Guardiola and some of his teammates feel bad, escalating the situation and the conflict between the coach and player before he was eventually loaned out.

He’s now at Barcelona and happy, with the ground seemingly being laid for a permanent deal to be done next summer and ensure there is no unhappy return to the Etihad.

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