Tottenham defender emerges as Manchester City transfer option confirms Fabrizio Romano | OneFootball

Transfers insider Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Manchester City are considering Tottenham’s Destiny Udogie as an option for the upcoming transfer window.

The Premier League champions are expected to undergo a further overhaul of their squad in the coming weeks and months, despite already spending upwards of £200 million on four new additions during the January window.

It comes as a direct reaction to a hugely underwhelming season for Pep Guardiola and his ageing and underperforming squad, that could yet end in the ultimate disappointment by missing out on UEFA Champions League football for the 2025/26 campaign.

City are understood to have wanted to rebuild their squad during the summer market of 2024, but following direct orders from Guardiola himself to retain his existing playing squad, alterations were kept to a minimum at the expense of the season as a whole.

While much of the attention will undoubtedly centre around Kevin De Bruyne and how Manchester City will go about replacing arguably their greatest ever player, there is plenty of work to be done in defensive areas of the pitch, including the full-back roles.

And according to the information of market insider Fabrizio Romano, Manchester City are exploring options on the market to strengthen such ranks, with one player ‘appreciated internally’ at the Etihad Stadium being Tottenham’s Destiny Udogie.

The Italy international is ‘highly-rated’ by people at Manchester City, while the club’s incoming director of football – Hugo Viana – was already following the defender since his time with Udinese.

As for the position to be taken by Tottenham, in light of Italian media labelling the player as ‘untouchable’ for the club, Romano reaffirms that negotiations with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy are well known to be very difficult and City are aware of that situation.

Despite the complex nature of a potential deal, and possible competition from clubs in Italy for the 22-year-old, the report insists that appreciation for the player from Manchester City is ‘strong and concrete’.

Other names linked with Manchester City transfer interest for the full-back roles include Juventus and Italy international Andrea Cambiaso, who first became linked with a switch to the Etihad Stadium in January.

Despite a feeling in some quarters that City could launch a formal bid for the player and make the defender their fifth addition of the window, no such move would come to fruition while interest has been maintained in the lead up to the summer.

Speaking during an interview on the subject of interest from Manchester City officials midway through the ongoing campaign, Cambiaso’s agent Giovanni Bia told an interview in early February, “Juventus will explain what happened.

“I’ll tell you that everything that went out in the newspapers in relation to the negotiation is true. It’s true that (Pep) Guardiola wanted him.”