City reach £78million deal for RB Leipzig defender

Manchester City have finally agreed a £78m deal for RB Leipzig's Josko Gvardiol as Pep Guardiola finally lands top defensive target just over a week before their Trebble defence begins.

City have agreed a £78million deal for RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol.

The deal falls just shy of the £80m record fee for a defender that Manchester United paid for Harry Maguire in 2019.

Manchester City see the 21-year-old as a force for the next decade and his arrival should be confirmed by the end of the week. 

Mail Sport reported on Tuesday that Pep Guardiola's side want to get the transfer over the line before their curtain raiser with Arsenal on Sunday.

Gvardiol's old club, Dinamo Zagreb, are set to receive 20% of the transfer fee, which would represent major income for the croatian club. 

City identified the 21-year-old as a key target months ago and had been told by Leipzig to complete the deal by the start of the Premier League season. 

Mateo Kovacic, Gvardiol's Croatia team-mate and a new City man himself, said Gvardiol is ready for this next step in his career. 

He said: 'Josko has great potential. He can come here and learn and be the best version of himself. I’d obviously like it — I’m a good friend with him and he’s Croatian. It would be nice to have a Croatian by my side here.'

‘He’s already played a lot of big games. He is ready for this step.' 

Gvardiol was part of the Croatia side who reached the World Cup semi-finals and scored in their 2-1 win over Morocco in third-place play-off.

He was also part of the Leipzig team who crashed out of the Champions League Round of 16 against Manchester City last season. 

In a second leg to forget for the German outfit, City won 7-0, but on home turf Leipzig clinched a draw thanks to a Gvardiol goal.