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Manchester City Reportedly Close to Signing Croatia Center Back Josko Gvardiol

Croatia's Josko Gvardiol controls the ball during the Euro 2024 group D qualifying soccer match between Croatia and Wales at the Poljud stadium in Split, Croatia, Saturday, March 25, 2023. (AP)
Croatia's Josko Gvardiol controls the ball during the Euro 2024 group D qualifying soccer match between Croatia and Wales at the Poljud stadium in Split, Croatia, Saturday, March 25, 2023. (AP)
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Manchester City Reportedly Close to Signing Croatia Center Back Josko Gvardiol

Croatia's Josko Gvardiol controls the ball during the Euro 2024 group D qualifying soccer match between Croatia and Wales at the Poljud stadium in Split, Croatia, Saturday, March 25, 2023. (AP)
Croatia's Josko Gvardiol controls the ball during the Euro 2024 group D qualifying soccer match between Croatia and Wales at the Poljud stadium in Split, Croatia, Saturday, March 25, 2023. (AP)

Manchester City is ready to make a big move in the transfer market, days before the start of the new season.

The English and European champions are set to sign Croatia center back Josko Gvardiol for a reported 90 million euros ($98.3 million) from German club Leipzig, making him one of the world's most expensive defenders.

Neither City nor Leipzig have commented publicly about the deal for Gvardiol, who will reportedly undergo a medical examination this week.

Manchester United's Harry Maguire cost 80 million pounds (then $97 million) when he joined from Leicester in 2019, while Virgil van Dijk moved from Southampton to Liverpool for 75 million pounds (then $100 million) in 2018.

The 21-year-old Gvardiol, known as “Little Pep” because of his name's likeness to City manager Pep Guardiola, is one of the most highly rated defenders in the world and enhanced his reputation with impressive performances for Croatia at the World Cup last year.

He has played for Leipzig for two seasons, having previously been at Dinamo Zagreb. He was immediately a key player in the Bundesliga at the age of just 19, winning the German Cup in each of his seasons with Leipzig.

Gvardiol is a left-footed center back and would likely play on the left of City's back three, if Guardiola persists with a 3-2-4-1 formation he deployed in the second half of last season.

City also has Nathan Ake for that role in a formation that essentially sees the team play a defense full of center backs and dispense with full backs.

Gvardiol would be City's second signing of the offseason, after Croatia teammate Mateo Kovacic, who replaced Ilkay Gundogan in the squad. Gundogan, City's captain last season in its treble-winning campaign, has joined Barcelona.

Leipzig will be losing a third key player this offseason, having sold playmaker Dominik Szoboszlai to Liverpool and forward Christopher Nkunku to Chelsea.

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Sinner Gets Past Rune at Australian Open in Match with Net, Medical Delays

Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 20, 2025 Italy's Jannik Sinner shakes hands with Denmark's Holger Rune after winning his fourth round match REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas
Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 20, 2025 Italy's Jannik Sinner shakes hands with Denmark's Holger Rune after winning his fourth round match REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas
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Sinner Gets Past Rune at Australian Open in Match with Net, Medical Delays

Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 20, 2025 Italy's Jannik Sinner shakes hands with Denmark's Holger Rune after winning his fourth round match REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas
Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 20, 2025 Italy's Jannik Sinner shakes hands with Denmark's Holger Rune after winning his fourth round match REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

First came the medical timeouts, one each for Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune with the temperature above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) at the Australian Open. Then came the unusual sight of a 20-minute delay because the net at Rod Laver Arena detached from the court after being hit by a big Sinner serve.
In the end, Sinner put his physical struggles aside and emerged with the victory — as he keeps doing, no matter the site or the circumstances — and the defending champion moved into the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park on Monday by eliminating the 13th-seeded Rune 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
The No. 1-ranked Sinner occasionally tried to cool off by pressing a cold towel to his face or pouring water down the back of his neck, The Associated Press reported. He was far better down the stretch, both after a 10-minute-plus delay in the third set when he went to the locker room for medical attention and after a 20-minute holdup in the fourth when the screw connecting the net to the blue playing surface came undone.
“I knew in my mind ... I would struggle today,” Sinner said during his on-court interview, without saying what was wrong. "Me and the doctor, we talked a little bit. It helped me."
He has won 18 consecutive tour-level matches, dating to late 2024. Last season, Sinner went 73-6 with eight titles, the first man with that many tournament championships in a single year since Andy Murray in 2016.
That haul included Sinner’s first two Grand Slam trophies, at the Australian Open in January and the US Open in September, the latter shortly after he was exonerated for testing positive for an anabolic steroid twice in March. His case is still unresolved, though, with a hearing scheduled for April in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal of the ruling.
Rune, a 21-year-old from Denmark, was trying to get to the quarterfinals in Melbourne for the first time.
Sinner will face No. 8 Alex de Minaur of Australia or unseeded Alex Michelsen of the US for a berth in the semifinals. A second Italian joined Sinner in the quarterfinals when 55th-ranked Lorenzo Sonego got that far at a major tournament for the first time by ending the run of American qualifier Learner Tien 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Sonego will now face No. 21 Ben Shelton of the U.S. or Gael Monfils of France.