Manchester City have been quoted with a price to sign 'the next Thierry Henry' – and it would shatter their transfer record.
The Citizens' 2021 move for Jack Grealish topped £100 million, breaking not just their own record – which had stood at around £60m prior to that – but the record for a Premier League transfer and an English player. The Premier League champions have previously held talks over Harry Kane for £120m, suggesting that they would pay such a price for a player they deemed to be worthy of that.
But in the pursuit of a new forward to complement Erling Haaland, the Eastlands outfit have been told that they may have to pay significantly more for a player they've been linked with in recent months.
Journalist Matteo Moretto of Relevo has tweeted that in extending the contract of Rafael Leao, AC Milan have bumped the release clause up from €150m to €175m, echoing reports from SportItalia.
According to the Manchester Evening News, City have had Leao on their radar of late, with his leggy dribbling style and ability to cut in from the left flank leading to comparisons with Thierry Henry.
Though City are currently operating with more creative playmaker types out wide in Grealish and Bernardo Silva, Leao could be used in a similar way to Julian Alvarez in Guardiola's setup.
Chelsea were also linked with a move for the Portuguese, who has now committed his future to the Rossoneri. Portuguese outlet A Bola even claimed that the Blues were willing to pay an outstanding fee to Leao's former side Sporting when the forward essentially terminated his contract over the infamous training ground attack in 2018.
The 23-year-old missed the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against rivals, Inter Milan, this week but is hopeful of a return for the second.
Leao is valued to be worth €80m by Transfermarkt.
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With Erling Haaland breaking goal records a-plenty, Pep Guardiola said that Manchester City are monitoring the striker's fitness "24 hours a day".
Ilkay Gundogan is rumoured to be a major target for Barcelona this summer, while Guardiola has explained why major City stars are being subbed early. One Burnley star has told FFT that Vincent Kompany could manage the Citizens one day.
Meanwhile, one supercomputer has predicted the Premier League title run-in going down to the wire, while another has predicted them to win the Champions League.
