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Kevin De Bruyne, the Belgian and Manchester City midfielder, recently announced that he is going to leave the English club after his current contract with them runs out in the summer. With that, Manchester City have already started looking for options to replace the midfield maestro, and they have reportedly identified Florian Wirtz, the German and Bayer Leverkusen midfielder, as the ideal replacement for him.
As per the Mirror, Manchester City are willing to pay a fee of £100 million to Bayer Leverkusen, to acquire the services of Florian Wirtz in the summer, to give themselves the best chance of replicating the success achieved across competitions for the better part of last decade with Kevin De Bruyne. Fabrizio Romano, the Italian journalist, has also alluded to Manchester City’s interest in Florian Wirtz.
Florian Wirtz is reportedly also on radar of Bayern Munich
Despite the willingness from Manchester City under Pep Guardiola to shell out a lot of money for the German international, there is a high chance that it will be difficult for them to get the move to go through. It’s because the Bayer Leverkusen hierarchy have already tabled a new contract for Florian Wirtz to sign, with a release clause for the summer next year, and he might be tempted to stay in his home country for another season.
Meanwhile, apart from Manchester City, the Vincent Kompany-coached Bayern Munich are also interested in signing Florian Wirtz, which is arguably the most preferred destination for German football players at the top of their game. With that, it will be interesting to see whether City are successful in getting the 21-year-old to come to England this summer, or he stays put in his homeland.
