Liverpool battling Manchester City for €60M midfielder as Florian Wirtz talks progress | OneFootball

Manchester City are fighting the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham to secure the arrival of 20-year-old Hugo Larsson from Eintracht Frankfurt this summer, as per a new report.

City signed Omar Marmoush from Eintracht Frankfurt for £59 million in January and are assessing options to bolster their midfield in the summer transfer window, with Kevin De Bruyne set to bid farewell to the club in the near future.

Rodri has returned to full first-team training in recent weeks and Manchester City look set to keep hold of Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan into the 2025-26 campaign, with uncertainty looming over the future of Matheus Nunes.

Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz has been identified as Pep Guardiola’s preferred replacement for De Bruyne and it is understood the 21-year-old has been impressed by the Manchester City manager’s efforts to lure him to England amid interest from Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

Wirtz is yet to make a final decision on his future as Bayer Leverkusen look to extend the Germany international’s current deal with the inclusion of a release clause entered into his contract that can be activated after the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

City are eyeing reinforcements in midfield after a sub-standard campaign and after chasing the signing of one creative midfielder to shoulder the glaring gap in industry in the middle of the park – which Guardiola hopes can be helped by the resurgence of Phil Foden after a disappointing season by the Englishman’s standards.

As reported by SportBILD and relayed by Sport Witness, Frankfurt have slapped a €60 million price tag on Larsson as the season comes to a close and clubs across Europe – including Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham – enter the transfer market.

Frankfurt would ideally look to keep hold of the talented Swede but the Bundesliga outfit would find it difficult to turn down an offer in the region of €60 million for one of their most prized assets, who is likely to see clubs line up to try and sign him this summer.

Manchester City are expected to keep hold of Ilkay Gundogan and Mateo Kovacic into the 2025-26 campaign – with the former meeting conditions for an automatic one-year extension entered into his current deal – and the latter having enjoyed the personal best scoring season of his career and being in fine form in recent months.

Guardiola is eyeing four to five first-team signings to get his side back challenging on all fronts next term after Manchester City surrendered their four-year long Premier League crown to Arne Slot’s Liverpool and exited the UEFA Champions League in disappointing fashion to Real Madrid with a 6-2 aggregate defeat at the Round of 16 stage.