Manchester City ready to move for €150m ‘new Thierry Henry’, after he turns DOWN Real Madrid and Chelsea: report

Manchester City have been left as the last competitor realistically able to sign a played dubbed “the next Thierry Henry”.

Pep Guardiola’s side are still in the hunt for an incredible treble after beating Arsenal at the Etihad 4-1 and keeping hopes alive for a third Premier League title in a row – but are still eyeing new recruits to strengthen even further. 

Though Manchester City have pivoted towards using creative midfielders like Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish on the flanks with Erling Haaland up front, a move for a wide forward with 1v1 ability is still rumoured to be on the agenda. 

According to the Manchester Evening News (opens in new tab), City have an interest in AC Milan star Rafael Leao, who has been compared to Thierry Henry (opens in new tab) in the past for his leggy dribbling style, stature and right-footed and penchant for cutting in on the left flank.

Leao is a wanted man right now, having fired the Rossoneri to a Scudetto last term and a Champions League semi-final lately. His future is up in the air, too, having recently told Sky Sport Italia (opens in new tab), “I want to stay here at Milan, yes – but there are some things to resolve.”

Now, Gazzetta Dello Sport (opens in new tab) are reporting that Leao has rejected advances from Chelsea and Real Madrid as his contract saga rumbles on.

City may well take this as either positive or negative. On the one hand, these rejections leave the Premier League champions as the most likely destination for the Portuguese – though Leao’s insistence that he wishes to remain in Milan is a major hurdle. 

The 23-year-old apparently has a €150 million release clause and is out of contract in just over a year’s time. Though Milan are hoping to tie up a deal with their talismanic forward, there is still a fair chance that they could fail to do so and be forced to sell before letting him leave for nothing. 

Leao is valued at €80m by Transfermarkt (opens in new tab).

More Manchester City stories

With Erling Haaland breaking goal records a-plenty, Pep Guardiola said that Manchester City are monitoring the striker’s fitness “24 hours a day”.

Ilkay Gundogan is rumoured to be a major target for Barcelona this summer, while Guardiola has explained why major City stars are being subbed early. One Burnley star has told FFT that Vincent Kompany could manage the Citizens one day.

Meanwhile, one supercomputer has predicted the Premier League title run-in going down to the wire, while another has predicted them to win the Champions League.

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