Manchester City are giving Ilkay Gundogan as much time as he needs to sign a new deal, but Fichajes say they’re also preparing for the possibility that he leaves. Pep Guardiola is reportedly ‘a fan’ of Brighton & Hove Albion’s Alexis Mac Allister and could make a move for the €40m-rated (£35.9m) midfielder this summer.
The 24-year-old joined Brighton from AA Argentinos Juniors in 2019 and has gone on to make 91 appearances in all competitions, scoring 15 goals with six assists. Mac Allister cost only €8m (£7.2m) at the time but has more than quadrupled in value after establishing himself as an indispensable first-team player.
The Argentina international, who had a hand in two goals from six games as his country won the World Cup in December, has scored seven times in 19 games for Brighton this season.
Mac Allister is a midfielder who’s adept at turning over the ball (3.9 tackles and interceptions per game), is composed in possession (89.1% pass completion), creates chances in the final third (0.9 per game) and can carry the ball from deep (0.9 successful dribbles per game).
It’s easy to see why Guardiola would be interested in Mac Allister with his top-flight experience and how well he fared at the World Cup, but City do have a lot of names on their shortlist to replace Gundogan if he leaves when his contract expires this summer.
Time will tell who they end up making an official approach for.
Man City beaten by Chelsea to Morgan signing
Man City made a move for Southampton striker Jimmy-Jay Morgan before Chelsea beat them to a deal, sources have told Football Insider.
The Premier League champions offered a contract to the 17-year-old but he has instead struck an agreement with the huge-spending Londoners.
Chelsea will reportedly pay £6million including add-ons for Morgan, according to Fabrizio Romano.
In addition to interest from City, Leeds United also made a move for Morgan before he opted instead to re-join Chelsea.
He spent time at the club’s academy at the age of eight but returned to Southampton due to the difficulty of long car journeys to and from his home on the south coast.
The Saints have decided to accept Chelsea’s offer with Morgan currently on a scholarship deal that runs for another 18 months.
He was offered a professional contract as soon as he turned 17 last month but knocked it back after indicating he wanted to leave the club.
Morgan is still listed as a Southampton player on their official website
The highly sought-after youngster had been close to making his senior debut for Nathan Jones’ side after a spell training with the first team and has been an unused substitute for two matches.
That came after a run of six goals and five assists in 13 games at youth level this season. The England Under-17 striker was a prolific scorer last year as well, scoring 27 goals for the Saints’ Under-16s before being promoted to the Under-18s and scoring 13 more.
Chelsea had poached goalkeeper Eddie Beach and forward Tyler Dibling from the Saints last summer, the latter of whom has since returned to the south coast due to homesickness.
Source: manchestercity.vitalfootball.co.uk; footballinsider247.com
