Manchester City are ready to make Josko Gvardiol the most expensive defender in history after making a £86m offer for the RB Leipzig player.

According to Sport Bild, Man City have been linked with Gvardiol throughout the summer and had a £77m bid rejected earlier this summer. The Leipzig side made a bid of £86m and that figure has now been met, albeit in an offer of £77m plus £9m in surcharges.

While it is widely reported that Gvardiol will move to Man City this summer , Leipzig has yet to accept the offer, as they want more realistic goals to be included in the £9m supplementary package. Should the Croatian go, he would become the world’s most expensive defender, outstripping Harry Maguire, who moved to Manchester United from Leicester City for a total of £80m in 2019.

Leipzig are not under any pressure to sell Gvardiol, after Dominik Szoboszlai has left to join Liverpool , and Gvardiol has a release clause in his £96m contract that will activate next summer, meaning is the club can try to keep him until then. However, they still hope to be able to clarify Gvardiol’s future before the transfer deadline in case a replacement is needed.

City hope to formalize a deal for Gvardiol before they kick off the Premier League season in their opening match at Burnley on August 11.