Manchester City: Transfer News and Rumour Roundup 7

The Sense There’s Something There

Toni Kroos, 25, Real Madrid, Midfielder

That old saying about there being no smoke without fire is usually accurate, outside of using a smoke machine and possibly football transfer rumours. These things get passed around from one end of the media to the other, each desperate to fill their contractual obligations to provide content and generate clicks/purchases, and often have little basis whatsoever.

One gets the idea though, that there’s certainly something more when it comes to Manchester City being linked to Kroos. We’ve mentioned him more than any other player so far this summer and that doesn’t look like it’s going to stop any time soon. While Kroos is still off at the Euros, the latest update comes from ESPN who report that Kroos himself is interested to reunite with Guardiola, who he describes as the best coach he’s ever been under.

Not leaving things there, ESPN suggested City were willing to trigger Kroos’ release clause, which they put at £63million, as he remains the player Pep wants more than any other. It must be said that ESPN’s ballpark for the release clause sounds remarkably low, indeed, no one seems to know exactly how much it is for Kroos. Eurosport guesstimate in the region of £75million and I’ve seen other amounts up to and including north of an eye watering £200million.

Obviously the latter isn’t going to happen, indeed I would imagine Eurosport’s amount is closer to the ceiling for Kroos. British record breaking, but not world record breaking, sounds about right. Regardless if City really want Kroos there’s only a few ways to get him. First, he can force his way out, which for him presents a risky gamble that I can’t imagine him taking. Second, City can pay the release clause and barter with Kroos but with reduced bargaining power. Finally, Real Madrid can be convinced to willingly sell him to generate cash flow.

The latter is the preferred method and, as we’ve mentioned before, always seemed to be the one we’d rely on should Real ultimately decide to take a run at Paul Pogba. However, at least for now, United stand alone in the hunt for Pogba and Real haven’t shown any real interest in meeting Juventus’ outlandish price demands, even with City’s help.

Either which way, it’s clear City are still interested in Kroos. Perhaps, as per our last update, they aren’t convinced they will be able to snatch Thiago from Bayern Munich or, more likely, Kroos was the first choice all along. Regardless, they want him and that’s a good sign.

Next: The Healthy Competition