Several names are being frequently suggested as targets for the Premier League champions and, not for the first time this week, the Express claim that Lyon’s Nabil Fekir is high on the Blues’ wish-list.
They report: “Manchester City have asked to be kept in touch with developments about Lyon’s French international midfielder Nabil Fekir.
“Fekir, 25, is set to leave his home town club this summer just 12 months after a move to Liverpool fell through at the 11th hour after the results of a medical.
“Jurgen Klopp is still interested in a player who he almost signed for £53 million but will attempt to get him for a lower fee given his knee problems.
“Lyon are ready to cash in again on Fekir who scored 12 goals in all competitions for the Ligue 1 side last season.
“The French side are hoping that interest from the Premier League champions could led to an auction and them getting somewhere near what they wanted a year ago.”
Another midfielder who is believed to be on the shopping list of a number of top Premier League clubs is Sporting Lisbon’s Bruno Fernandes.
Goal believe Fernandes is yet another City/Liverpool target and the Portuguese star has admitted to being an admirer of both clubs.
Goal report:“Fernandes has been keeping the door open for a switch to be put in place on the eve of the summer transfer window.
“He is a big fan of the 2018-19 treble winners, but is also an admirer of the ‘heavy metal’ football favoured by Jurgen Klopp at Anfield.
“Fernandes told De Cadeirinha: ‘Pep Guardiola has made the best of the players in the team, he knew that it was going to be difficult in England and he adapted.
‘It’s a City that plays, more or less, in the way of Barcelona, but not just because the championship is different, the intensity is different, the aggressiveness is different, the competition is different and he knew how to change it.
‘City, without the ball, has the intensity of the XI, can in a moment of pressure put the [opposing] team in a corner, in block, and ends up stealing the ball.’
Finally, John Stones is quoted at length on a number of websites and in several newspapers this morning.
Ahead of England’s participation in the UEFA Nation’s League, the City defender says he can’t get enough of winning trophies and is hoping to feed his obsession with the national team.
The Daily Mail write: “John Stones has won the treble with Manchester City but it’s not enough: the England defender says he now has an addiction to silverware.
“And he is determined that his England team-mates get to share the winning habit at the inaugural UEFA Nations League in Portugal next week.
“England battled through a qualifying group with World Cup finalists Croatia and Euro 2012 winners Spain to qualify for their semi-final against Holland next Thursday.
“They will play either Switzerland or Portugal in the final if they win and have the opportunity to claim England’s first trophy since 1966.
“Stones said: ‘The chance we’ve got is so new: a new tournament that we can go and win. There are boys here who have not won or been in any finals and [haven’t experienced] what it’s like to win something or fight for something so special.
‘And I want to give them that hunger of something so special, so addictive. When you lift a trophy and know that you’ve been the best in whatever competition, it is it’s something so special.
‘I can’t describe it in any other way. It’s so addictive. To have that memory in your head.
‘When I think back now of lifting that trophy [the FA Cup] at Wembley up on the balcony, it’s something that will never leave your mind. It’s so unique when you can’t have anyone say they were better than you.’
That’s all for today – we’ll be back tomorrow morning with more gossip, opinion and rumours on City...
