La Liga champions Real Madrid reportedly lead the race to sign Josko Gvardiol, a target for Chelsea and Manchester City.
According to a report by Spanish outlet Fichajes, Real Madrid will soon present an offer to sign Josko Gvardiol. Chelsea and Manchester City are also interested in signing the Croatian defender. But the reigning La Liga champions are the favourites to land the player in the summer transfer window.
Josko Gvardiol has reached the pinnacle of his short professional career thus far since joining RB Leipzig. The 20-year-old has been one of the best defenders in the Bundesliga in the last 18 months. But his stock has skyrocketed after a brilliant campaign at the 2022 FIFA World Cup with his nation.
At the club level, the Croat has turned out 65 times for Leipzig thus far, with his performances capturing the attention of several bigwigs. And Real Madrid, Chelsea, and Manchester City are the leading clubs keen on signing Gvardiol in the summer transfer window.
Real Madrid might lose Nacho as a free agent in the summer amid long-dragging negotiations over a new contract. In addition, Jesus Vallejo might join Nacho on his way out of the Bernabeu. And with David Alaba on the wrong side of 30, Real Madrid will need to bring in a young centre-back. Gvardiol has thus emerged on their radar, with Los Blancos in the pole position to sign him.
Josko Gvardiol on his future: “My plan is that I stay here. I think everyone has seen Max Eberl's statement. I'm okay with that”, tells Sky Germany. 🚨🇭🇷 #transfers @philipphinze24
All points to potential transfer in the summer and not in January, as things stand. pic.twitter.com/RhwxtD2DHf
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 8, 2023
As for Chelsea, the Blues have signed Benoit Badiashile from AS Monaco this month. And that seemed to have handed Real Madrid an advantage in the race to sign Gvardiol. But Chelsea will still look to sign Gvardiol in the summer amid the inconsistencies of Kalidou Koulibaly.
Meanwhile, the interest from Manchester City is surprising, considering they signed Manuel Akanji in the summer. And unless any one of John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Ruben Dias, and Nathan Ake leaves, it is unclear how Gvardiol will fit in the scheme of things. Nonetheless, the Citizens are in the mix for the 20-year-old.
Any suitor will have to fork out at least €100 million to sign Gvardiol. And it will be interesting to see if Real Madrid will break the bank to beat Chelsea and Manchester City to his signature in the summer transfer window.
