Club Director Reveals Multiple Manchester City Offers For Centre-Back Across Past Three Years

As the 2022/23 season looks set to get underway, Manchester City fans are still reflecting on a summer that has been defined by change.

First things first, former club captain Fernandinho departed the Etihad Stadium after a nine-year spell.

Kalvin Phillips was eventually brought in as a long-term replacement for the veteran midfielder for a £42 million fee.

With key forwards such as Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling moving to the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea respectively, City have lost two of their three top goal scorers under Pep Guardiola’s regime.

However, it seemed as if the club were always prepared for their departures with the blockbuster signings of Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland.

Nathan Ake was set to join Chelsea this summer, but a move failed to materialise. (Alamy)

As Oleksandr Zinchenko has recently signed for Arsenal, another fresh face in Marc Cucurella could be added to the fold.

The same could well have been the case with Nathan Aké, who looked dead set for a return to Stamford Bridge this summer.

With Thomas Tuchel’s men having lost Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen to Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively, the club were in desperate need of defensive reinforcements.

It seemed as if the Dutchman was keen on signing for Chelsea, as he was likely to get superior game time at his former club in comparison to his time in East Manchester.

However, the two-time Champions League winners reportedly decided not to meet the Sky Blues’ £45 million valuation to sign the player.

It was also mentioned that both Ake and City were ultimately content with the move failing to come to fruition.

A new update has now revealed that while the transfer looked dead and buried, the West Londoners expressed their interest in the switch once again.

As per the latest information provided by transfer inside Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea wanted to try signing Aké once again this week, with plans to put forward a big offer to tempt City into sanctioning his sale.

Jules Kounde has now joined Barcelona (PRESSINPHOTO SPORTS AGENCY / Alamy)

It has also been revealed by the Italian journalist that at the time when City were open to letting the 27-year old leave, they had one of Europe’s finest defenders in mind as a potential replacement.

That centre-back is none other than now-Barcelona new boy Jules Kounde, with intermediaries instructed to discover whether the club could enter the race to sign the Frenchman.

This interest has been confirmed by Sevilla director, Monchi, who said: “The offers we had two years ago from Manchester City, last year from Chelsea & this year from Manchester City and Barcelona were for the same amount."

However, the deal could be considered as anything but advanced or serious.

With Aké starting all three pre-season games and looking sharp, it seems as if both the player and City only have their sights set for the new season.