Rabbi Matondo To Leave Manchester City For Bundesliga

There is a sense of deja vu in the way another young Manchester City player may be looking to the German League as the next step in his future development.

The reason why this drama is beginning to play out in relation to Rabbi Matondo is unclear. Maybe it is the perceived success of the path already chosen by Jadon Sancho, who left Manchester City after rejecting a new contract offer and going on strike, before signing for Borussia Dortmund  which is turning his head. Or the maybe Matondo does not believe that he is not good enough to force his way into the City first team.

Either way there is a clear saga beginning . So far, as is usually the case, Manchester City have not made any statement regarding the matter to the press, and given it is unlikely Guardiola will be discussing the Matondo contract situation in his pre match briefings, it is fair to say we are unlikely to hear any view from the club.

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So far what we know is that Matondo has impressed this season whilst playing for the Under 23 side as a winger. He has played 21 games so far, during which he has scored 9 goals and assisted a further 6. That healthy level of goal involvement has served to generate some interest in Matondo this season.

His contract at City is not due to expire until 30 June 2020, but given his progress a new contract has been offered and rejected by the player. This leaves City in the position of either seeking to increase their offer or capitalise upon the development of the player. Both Sancho and Diaz rejected the City contract offers before seeking to look elsewhere and City may well feel there is no point making a further contract offer at this stage, especially if they are minded to sell.

Matondo was born in Liverpool and has represented Wales at youth level. Since the rejection of a contract extension there has been a steady series of rumours linking Matondo with a move. There have been reports of interest from Everton but I am not sure Matondo would find himself any closer to the first team if he signed for another Premier League team.

In recent months following the success of Sancho moving to Germany a number of Bundesliga clubs have started to look at Youth players in England as potentially good value signings. German press stories this week have unsurprisingly linked Matondo with moves to a variety of clubs including Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Hoffenheim.

The extent to which these stories are generated by the British media in their continuing attempt to paint the Guardiola years as a failure of youth development, or are being pushed by an agent gently hawking his player around the continent is unclear.

Either way, Matondo will have an opportunity to put himself on the bigger stage in the next week given City face a Carabao Cup semi final dead rubber against Burton Albion.

We all know as City fans how this is all likely to pan out, so prepare for Matondo to be the next young player sold at a profit by our academy.