It has been reported that Manchester City are showing interest in acquiring Barcelona’s midfielder Dani Olmo since they may pass up the chance to sign Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz.
With Kevin De Bruyne set to depart at the season’s conclusion, City is on the hunt for fresh midfield talent. Although Wirtz has been a much-desired option, his increasing association with Bayern Munich has made City look elsewhere for alternatives.
While considering other prospects, including Morgan Gibbs-White of Nottingham Forest and Hugo Larsson from Eintracht Frankfurt, Olmo appears to be at the top of City’s preferred list, according to Relevo.
Pep Guardiola’s side were one of many to be speculatively linked with Olmo during the January transfer window, when his Barcelona departure on a free transfer was feasible as a result of the registration debacle which is still ongoing to this day.
The City boss is thought to dream of luring Olmo to the Etihad Stadium this summer, making the Spain international his top midfield target, and it is even suggested that Olmo now sits higher than Wirtz on Guardiola’s shortlist.
Barcelona paid €47m to sign Olmo from RB Leipzig last summer and have no desire to part ways with the 27-year-old, whose love of the club is a large part of the reason why he is still there in the face of the registration uncertainty.
That being said, City boast the finances to lodge an offer which Barcelona may be forced to consider. However, they are likely to demand a significant fee to part ways with a player who has been a regular starter under Hansi Flick.
Olmo is contracted to Barcelona until 2030, meaning the La Liga champions-elect are under no pressure to agree to a sale from that perspective. Much may depend on the final ruling over Olmo’s registration, which has been sent back to the National Court as La Liga continue to argue that Barcelona do not have the finances required to play the midfielder.
