Man City preparing to scupper Jose Mourinho’s transfer pursuit of Bundesliga ace

Posted Tuesday, October 26, 2021 by Caughtoffside.com

There aren’t many positions in Manchester City’s star-studded squad that need reinforcing but one area of the pitch manager Pep Guardiola will be wary of is the defensive midfield role. Despite having both Rodri and Fernandinho at his disposal, with the latter set to turn 37-years-old next summer, the Citizens would do well to bring in the Brazilian’s long-term successor and according to recent reports, the club has identified the perfect candidate.

That’s according to a recent report from Italian outlet Calciomercato, who claims that Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Denis Zakaria could be set for a bumper transfer next summer.

The highly-rated midfielder’s contract expires in under 12-months time and that is understood to be attracting the interest of Jose Mourinho’s Roma, as well as Manchester City.

Zakaria is an industrious midfielder who works tirelessly to ensure his team transition from defence to attack as quickly as possible – his attributes, as well as his impending availability, is expected to see Mourinho pursue a transfer, after missing out on Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka earlier this summer.

However, with Manchester City now understood to be keeping a close eye on the Switzerland international, rejecting the chance to join the Premier League champions would certainly be surprising.

When recently addressing the uncertainty currently surrounding one of their best players, Max Eberl, Borussia Monchengladbach’s director of sport, as quoted by Daily Mail, said: “There are a lot of offers [for Zakaria], so we’ll have to wait and see what happens in the next few days and weeks.”

Since joining Borussia Monchengladbach four years ago, Zakaria has gone on to feature in 135 matches, in all competitions, directly contributing to 19 goals, along the way.