Giants open talks with UCL finalist for bargain transfer after shock sale

Man City are in talks to sign a big name this summer

Manchester City have reportedly ‘initiated talks’ with a club who reached last season’s Champions League final over the bargain transfer of one of their stars, after a shock sale of their own.

City have already improved in a number of different areas this summer. They’ve signed goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli, left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri, midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and attacker Rayan Cherki.

It is now necessary for the Premier League giants to recruit at right-back, too.

They already wanted to do so, given Kyle Walker was not fancied any more, having been sent out on loan last season, and he’s now made a shock move to Burnley.

And City have now made quick progress in replacing him. They were already said to be well positioned to land Inter Milan’s Denzel Dumfries, and according to FootballTransfers, they have ‘initiated talks’ with Inter over a move.

They are now exploring the willingness of the Dutchman to move to the Etihad.

Dumfries has a €25million (£21.5m) release clause, active only until July 15, so City must rush through a transfer, and are said to see the deal as ‘being too good to pass up’.

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Walker sale a shock

It is little surprise that City have sold Walker, after links to a lot of clubs of late, but it is certainly a surprise where he ended up.

The City man, who was on a contract of more than £150,000 per week, has made a move to newly-promoted Burnley.

It’s believed City could make a saving of £10million in terms of the contract after selling Walker.

It’s not clear what salary they’d be willing to pay Dumfries, but the right-back was directly involved in 17 goals from defence last season, including five direct goal contributions in the Champions League, all coming across two legs of the semi-final against Barcelona.

As such, it would not be a surprise to see Dumfries out-earn what Walker was making at the Etihad.

Man City round-up: Gonzalez wants out

After around six months at City, January signing Nico Gonzalez reportedly wants to leave the club.

It’s felt he’s not going to play a lot of football ahead of Rodri and new signing Reijnders, so is looking to play first-team football elsewhere.

Meanwhile, plans to sign Tino Livramento have taken a hit, given Newcastle will only let him go for an ‘astronomical’ fee.

Indeed, they won’t let the right-back go for under £80million.

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