Man City reached an agreement to recruit Josko Gvardiol from RB Leipzig with the highest price in world football history for defenders.

Fabrizio Romano confirmed Man City and RB Leipzig have just signed an agreement regarding the transfer of Josko Gvardiol. The English team accepted to pay 90 million euros to recruit the Croatian midfielder.

Gvardiol became the most expensive defender in the history of world football. The old record was set by Man Utd in 2019 when this team recruited Harry Maguire from Leicester City for 87 million euros.

Gvardiol joins Man City.

Gvardiol finished negotiating the terms of his personal contract with the defending Champions League champion two months ago. The 21-year-old player will travel to Manchester (England) for a medical today (August 4). After that, he signed a contract and officially became a member of the Etihad Stadium team.

Gvardiol trained at Dinamo Zagreb, then moved to RB Leipzig in 2020. He is one of the most highly rated Under-21 players in world football at the moment.

The Croatian midfielder made a strong impression at the 2022 World Cup. At that time, he played an important role in helping the national team rank 3rd at the world championship.

Joining Man City, Gvardiol has to compete for the position with many other stars. Coach Pep Guardiola has Manuel Akanji, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias as his top priority centre-backs last season.

Gvardil is Man City’s third rookie in the summer of 2023. The defending Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup champions bought Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea for 29 million euros and picked up goalkeeper Spike Brits from Wimbledon (no. price disclosure).

In the opposite direction, Man City earned more than 70 million euros from the sale of players. Notable names to part with the Etihad Stadium team are Ilkay Gundogan (out of contract, transferred to Barcelona), Benjamin Mendy (out of contract, joining Lorient), Riyad Mahrez (to Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia for a price 35 million euros).