Fabrizio Romano has revealed Manchester City have reached a ‘club-to-club agreement’ for Manuel Akanji’s transfer this summer, while Real Madrid plot a huge swap bid for Erling Haaland.
City have signed Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki, James Trafford, Sverre Nypan and Marcu Bettinelli this summer for around £150m, while selling James Mcatee, Yan Couto and Maximo Perrone for £50m.
They got off to the best possible start on Saturday, beating Wolves 4-0, but Fabrizio Romano claims there could yet be ‘movement in and out’ of the Etihad before the end of the transfer window.
And Galatasaray are key to that as their push to sign goalkeeper Ederson will see Manchester City push ahead to land Gianluigi Donnarumma as his replacement, with Romano confirming City ‘remain the favourites’ to sign the PSG goalkeeper.
The transfer expert also revealed on X that City have reached an ‘agreement’ with the Turkish giants over a deal for Manuel Akanji.
He wrote: ‘After club to club agreement, Galatasaray will make their offer to Manuel Akanji in 24h. No proposal on the table to the player yet and currently no indications from Akanji on intention to accept destination. Deal agreed between clubs, but not done with the player yet.’
Romano later revealed a ‘£15m fee has been agreed’ between the clubs and that Galatasaray will submit their proposal to the player in the upcoming hours to try get the deal done this week’.
Meanwhile, fresh from his brace on the opening day, Erling Haaland continues to be the subject of great interest from Real Madrid, and president Florentino Perez in particular.
Spanish outlet Fichajes claim Perez plans to ‘take advantage of the uncertainty surrounding’ Vinicius Junior’s future – his stalled contract talks – ‘to try an exchange for Haaland with Manchester City in the summer of 2026’
The report adds:
‘Florentino Perez knows that Kylian Mbappe has revolutionized the front, but also that the squad still lacks a reference center forward that guarantees figures of authentic predator of the area. That role is fulfilled by Erling Haaland in the English team, and his desire to wear white is no secret. In fact, in recent months, his entourage has hinted that he is waiting for the call of the merengue president.
‘Real Madrid does not hide its ambition to bring together Mbappé and Haaland at the Santiago Bernabéu. It would be a historical duo capable of dominating European football during the next decade. For this, Florentino considers that Vinícius’ letter can be decisive: to offer it as part of an operation with Manchester City.’