Manchester City hit a roadblock in pursuit of promising Serie-A talent

Manchester City seem to have received a body blow in their race to sign Bologna’s midfielder, Mattias Svanberg with Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspurs occupying the pole position to sign him in the upcoming transfer window.

The defending champions have been absolutely relentless in their hunt for a proper number 9, whom they have been missing in their lineup ever since Sergio Aguero bid farewell to the Etihad in 2021 summer and joined FC Barcelona on a Bosman.

Ferran Torres was believed to make the striker position his own with Pep Guardiola restricted to limited options in the attacking third. The 21-year-old though was enjoying a brilliant start to his campaign netting the ball twice and assisting once in 4 appearances for the Cityzens in the Premier League.

"“Spurs already know him very, very well because of the Italians involved in the club now. And it looks as though there could be some fairly big changes at he club in January.”“Anyone who has spent him play for Bologna will tell you that he’s the sort of player that Conte would enjoy working with.”"

Source: The Mirror.

Svanberg, 22, has been quite impressive with his Italian club finding the back of the net on 3 occasions and assisting twice in 17 appearances for Bologna. The Swedish national is carrying a contract until 2023 summer at the Renato Dall’Ara stadium and a substantial amount would be required to acquire his services.

Guardiola though has many reasons for signing the Swedish midfielder. Brazilian Veteran, Fernandinho is tipped to part ways with the Skyblues at the end of this season, and the injury-prone duo of Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan can’t be expected to deliver on all occasions. That leaves Pep with only Rodri and Bernardo Silva. It is safe to say that the latter has been able to fill any possible voids in their midfield that are threatening to unfold in the near future.

With Tottenham on the verge of signing Matthias Svanber, whom would Manchester City choose as the alternative to reinforce their midfield?

Let us know.