Manchester City haven’t had the busiest transfer window thus far, especially when you look at what their rivals Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United have been up to this summer. But they aren’t in the business of doing deals for the sake of it and their two signings at the time of writing look like two very good additions to Pep Guardiola’s side.
Mateo Kovacic moved from Chelsea to the Etihad for just £25 million back in June and the Croatian midfielder has since been joined by his fellow countryman Joško Gvardiol in Manchester. The 21-year-old’s services have cost Man City a mammoth £77.5m, but he’s considered one of the best young defenders in the world and will only further solidify Guardiola’s side’s chances in the Premier League top 4 odds.
He’s a much-talked-about youngster and has been linked with a switch to the English top flight several times in the past, with Chelsea previously leading the race for his sought-after signature. But not everyone will be familiar with Gvardiol, so let’s take a look at him in more detail and what he will offer Guardiola.
Career to date
The Croatian came through the ranks of Dynamo Zagreb, signing for his hometown club when he was just eight years of age and he made his debut for the senior side in 2019 — coming off the bench for the final few minutes in a 4-2 win over Gorica. Gvardiol scored on his next league appearance for Zagreb in a 1-0 win over Inter Zapresic.
The 21-year-old made 11 appearances in total in the 2019-20 campaign, but that was enough to convince RB Leipzig to swoop in for then 18-year-old. He returned to Zagreb on loan for another season and became a first-team regular — making 25 league outings and also appearing 10 times in the Europa League as Zagreb reached the quarter-finals.
Garvdiol went straight into Leipzig’s starting XI when he finally arrived in Germany and he instantly became a stalwart for the Bundesliga outfit, making over 80 appearances and winning two DFB Pokals during his time at the Red Bull Arena.
International career
The defender also worked his way through the ranks of his country’s youth system, earning caps for the u-14s, u-16s, u-17s, u-19s and u-21s en route to making his senior breakthrough for Croatia. Garvdiol l is already incredibly experienced at international level as well.
He made his debut against Belgium in June 2021 and was included in Croatia’s squad for the Euros, becoming the youngest ever player to represent his nation at a major tournament at 19 years of age. Garvdiol started all of Croatia’s games as they were knocked out in the round of 16 after extra-time by Spain.
The 21-year-old also started all seven of his nation’s games at last year’s World Cup in Qatar, where they stunned tournament favourites Brazil in the quarter-finals but couldn’t cause an upset in the final four against eventual winners Argentina. Croatia did claim third place though, and Gvardiol scored in the 2-1 win over Morocco.
What will he offer Manchester City?
There is a lot of competition at centre-back for Manchester City, with John Stones, Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanki, Nathan Ake, Aymeric Laporte and now Gvardiol all battling for starting spot in central defence. But the qualities the 21-year-old has, including speed, physicality, strength in the air and ability with the ball at his feet, make him a very good addition to the Man City squad.
The fact he is left-footed was also a huge factor in the Premier League champions pursuing the deal and there’s a very good chance Guardiola will opt to play him as a full-back, as he has experience playing at left-back for both club and country.
