Manchester City is about to close the hiring of a central defender. The great objective of Txiki Beguiristain during this summer market, which will remain open until next October 5, was to strengthen the center of defense and, after studying various possibilities offered by the market, he has chosen Jules Koundé (21 years old), French central of Sevilla.
The conversations between the sports management of City and that of Sevilla have been taking place since last week with the knowledge of Koundé, who agrees to the transfer if the clubs agree. The final figures of the operation are about to be closed at an amount close to 50 million euros And what is being negotiated is how much the fixed payment amounts and how much the bonus for objectives.
Jules Koundé, who has been one of the revelations of Sevilla last season, has a termination clause of 80 million euros, but City in no case will pay that clause and moves to a maximum to sign a central defender, amount that suits him to close the signing of the French in the next few hours, tEvery time Sevilla understands that it is an offer according to the market the one made by the team led by Pep Guardiola.
Manchester City managed a list of centrals as possible signings in which it was José María Giménez, from Atlético de Madrid, Kaulidou Koulibaly, from Napoli, and Jules Koundé, from Sevilla. Of that final shortlist (there was a list of more centrals), there were conversations with Napoli and with Atlético.
Negotiations with Atlético de Madrid to try to hire Giménez continued for several weeks, but City did not meet the aspirations of the rojiblanco team, which referred to the termination clause of 105 million euros. According to Atlético sources, the English team offered 89 million euros for Giménez, an amount that the English club denies, which unofficially states that it did not offer more than 60 million euros for the Uruguayan central defender.
Once the hiring of Giménez was ruled out Faced with the impossibility of reaching an agreement with Atlético, City set their goal in Koundé and, after intense negotiations between Monchi, Sevilla's sports director, and Beguiristain, City sporting director, the signing is about to close. If the opareción takes place, Julen Lopetegui would be left without one of the revelations of the last League.