Pep Guardiola is "obsessed" with a Premier League star and wants to bring him to Manchester City.
After guiding City a historic treble triumph last season, Guardiola freshened up his squad.
The likes of Ilkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez, Aymeric Laporte and Cole Palmer moved on, with Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic, Jeremy Doku and Matheus Nunes coming in.
But it appears as though Guardiola has his eyes fixed on another marquee addition in the summer.
According to Fichajes, Guardiola has his eyes firmly fixed on Newcastle United and Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes.
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The former Lyon man arrived in the Premier League in January 2022 for a fee of £40 million and has made 97 appearances.
However, Newcastle are in need of selling their key assets to raise funds after recent big spending and Guimaraes is among their most valuable.
He is believed to valued at £85 million, though some reports say he has a £100 million release clause in his contract.
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Guardiola has already publicly stated his admiration for Guimaraes, hailing him as "exceptional" prior to City's FA Cup quarter-final win over Newcastle.
Speaking at a press conference, Guardiola said: "He is an exceptional holding midfielder. He is aggressive, with the ball or without the ball.
At set pieces, he’s aggressive and is a real, complete holding midfielder since being at Lyon and now at a club who want to grow up and up.
"I’m sure he’s part of the project for the next years. Definitely."
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Although he has been linked with plenty of clubs, Guimaraes signed a new contract extension in October and has no plans to move on.
He told Sky Sports: "I'm happy here, in this club doing my best. I love the way the fans like me so I focus on my football and let the people speak.
"Sometimes (people speak about me leaving Newcastle). I'm very happy here, enjoy it a lot. I never felt so much love for the fans like here.
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"They've been unbelievable for me and my family so I try to play for fans. So I hope I can keep going here for as long as possible."
Topics: Pep Guardiola, Manchester City
Josh Lawless