Man City block offer for midfielder with interesting buyback
Manchester City chief Txiki Begiristain is understood to have rejected an offer from Hellas Verona to land Ivan Ilic.
The 20-year-old midfielder enjoyed a fine season, scoring three times from 30 appearances in all competitions. Verona have been impressed with the youngster, who spent the 2019/20 season in Holland with NAC Breda.
Ilic spent last season on loan with the Serie A club and helped them finish 10th in Serie A. Since then Verona have announced the departure of their coach Ivan Juric. The 46-year-old has taken over at Torino, but Verona still want to keep hold of Serbian star Ilic.
Corriere Di Verona via Sport Witness though claims that City have not been responsive to their offer.
Verona recently made an approach to keep him, but Begiristain has turned down the offer.
Verona are tipped to make another attempt to land Ilic, who is under contract with City until 2022.
There was a clause written into Ilic’s loan stating the northern Italian side could purchase Ilic permanently.
Hellas1903 claimed earlier this year that Verona were able to sign the Serbia Under-21 international for little over £10million.
City though also inserted a future buyback clause, worth £20.5million.
Whether or not City are contemplating a loan or permanent sale is unclear. Begiristain though has rebuffed their initial offer.
Subscribe for free to TEAMtalk’s daily newsletter…
Sterling ‘no’ to capital transfer
Meanwhile, Raheem Sterling’s stance on a proposed exit to either Arsenal or Tottenham has been made clear, with the update potentially affecting the future of Harry Kane.
The 26-year-old has quickly put to bed what many considered to be an underwhelming season with Man City. Earlier this month, Sterling was made an MBE for his work in fostering racial equality. He followed that up by proving those that questioned his selection wrong when scoring the winning goal as England made the perfect start to Euro 2020.
Nevertheless, at club level, Sterling’s future has been the subject of speculation.
A sensational report in late May indicated both he and fellow winger Riyad Mahrez were facing the axe as Pep Guardiola sought to freshen up his forward line.
Arsenal were touted as an interested party, while Tottenham were then linked through a deal that would take star striker Kane to the Etihad.
Kane’s future remains up in the air with Tottenham persistently struggling to field a team around him capable of lifting major honours.
Sterling was mooted as a potential makeweight to help ease Tottenham’s burden of losing such an influential player. However, club chairman Daniel Levy was said to be eyeing a cash-only deal.
The Telegraph report that Sterling will ‘hold talks over his Man City’ over his future upon the conclusion of Euro 2020.
Whether Man City wish to retain his services is another matter. But from his end, Sterling is deemed ‘not interested in having his destiny decided for him.’
In other words, Sterling has no interest in packing his bags for North London.
READ MORE: Man City face tough opener, intriguing Christmas run as Prem fixtures revealed
The post Man City block offer for midfielder with interesting buyback appeared first on TEAMtalk.