Manchester City might have signed four key players in the transfer window - but they missed out on a future star despite a hefty bid
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Manchester City missed out on signing the most-promising wonderkid in Europe in the summer, after having a hefty transfer fee rejected.
With Pep Guardiola as manager and their treble win last term, Manchester City are arguably the most enticing club for professional footballers to move to. Money isn't too much of a concern, either, as evidenced by their £200m+ spending on the likes of Josko Gvardiol, Jeremy Doku, Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes in the summer.
Despite all that, though, Manchester City were still unable to convince a target who could have been patrolling the Etihad Stadium for more than a decade to move to the club, after having a significant transfer fee rejected.
Doku was just one of four high-profile arrivals at City in the summer (Image credit: Getty Images)
According to France Television, PSG rebuffed Manchester City's advances for their 17-year-old starlet Warren Zaire-Emery. The Premier League side offered £52m for the midfielder, but had the bid quickly rejected by the Ligue 1 champions.
Zaire-Emery has been a revelation at PSG since breaking into the first team aged 16. The club's youngest-ever player, Zaire-Emery played 26 times last season on the way to winning the Ligue 1 title, before starting 10 of PSG's 11 league games this campaign as well as all four of their Champions League fixtures.
The youngster has managed two goals and five assists in all competitions overall, highlighting how comfortable he is playing in the first team - and why Manchester City launched such a large bid for him.
Zaire-Emery has been a revelation at PSG (Image credit: Ulrik Pedersen/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
With Rodri playing at the base of central midfield for Manchester City, Guardiola saw the Spaniard as the perfect mentor for Zaire-Emery to further develop and improve. Unfortunately, negotiations failed to progress, with PSG president Nasser al-Khelaïfi particularly keen to hold onto the club's prized assest.
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Valued at £45m by Transfermarkt, Zaire-Emery has recently earned a call-up to the senior French national side for their November Euro 2024 qualifiers against Gibraltar and Greece.
His current deal with PSG is due to expire in June 2025, but is expected to commit his future to the club he came through the ranks at.
Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
