Manchester City to enter transfer race to sign key Red Devils target
Manchester City have been linked with Southampton skipper and set-piece specialist, James Ward-Prowse.
The English international has been impressive with his performances off-late and continues to gather interest from elite English clubs.
With 6 goals and 2 assists from 19 appearances for the midfielder, the 27-year-old has been linked with a move away from Southampton with Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham said to be keen on signing him, as per The Mirror(h/t fichajes).
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James Ward-Prowse has established himself as a set-piece specialist over the last few years and it is no surprise that he has been linked with a big-money move.
Last season, Ward-Prowse had 8 goals and 7 assists to his name from 38 appearances, and this season, the midfielder is already close to equalling his last season’s goal tally and could be en route to his best season to date.
The only flipside to this is that Ward-Prowse is contracted to the Saints until 2026 and thus, Southampton hold the stronger position, if at all the teams interested in the 27-year-old decide to enter into negotiations. With that said, the source claims that a fee in the range of €60 million could be enough to tempt Southampton into selling their skipper but with the club recently having parted ways with Danny Ings, letting go of Ward-Prowse well before 2026 does not seem to be on their agenda.
Manchester United are in the market for a holding midfielder with the club tipped to part ways with Jesse Lingard, Donny van de Beek, and Paul Pogba. The think-tank at Old Trafford believes that James Ward-Prowse could be Pogba’s replacement, who is tipped to leave on a Bosman at the end of this season.
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Coming to the Sky Blues, Ward-Prowse is viewed as the potential replacement of Ilkay Gundogan, as per the source. The 31-year-old German midfielder has become injury-prone off-late. Despite Gundogan racking up impressive performances, City are well within their right to look for his potential replacement and have all their bases covered.
Gundogan’s current contract expires in 2023 and it remains to be seen if City want to extend ties with the German playmaker.
Do you think the Cityzens should sign James Ward-Prowse as the alternative to Ilkay Gundogan?
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