A midfield chase widened, a winger target slipped away, and Rodri’s contract situation kept hovering over everything else. Here’s what mattered at City on Monday.
Kone talks open amid Rodri uncertainty
City have held talks with intermediaries over Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Manu Kone, according to TEAMtalk, with United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea all said to have made similar checks on the £50m-rated Frenchman.
It’s early stage rather than the negotiation stage, but Kone is reportedly open to the move — useful for City given the scale of the competition already circling him. The interest lands with Rodri entering the final year of his contract and no extension yet signed, which brings us to the next point.
Rodri’s contract could shape everything else
The Rodri situation is edging closer to becoming the story that defines City’s midfield summer either way it goes. With talks over an extension yet to be resolved, how City proceed elsewhere — Kone, Elliot Anderson’s role, the futures of others in that area — increasingly looks contingent on what happens with the Spaniard first, rather than the reverse.
And now he has a World Cup Final to concentrate on…
Bouaddi emerges as a leading target
City have stepped up interest in Lille’s Ayyoub Bouaddi, with the Guardian reporting Lille want around £85m for the 18-year-old. Hugo Viana has identified the Morocco international as a midfield option for the future, fitting the club’s now-familiar pattern of moving early on players before their value climbs further.
Nothing suggests this one’s close — Lille’s valuation alone will see to that — but it’s certainly one to watch.
Trincão chase ends in defeat
Sporting Lisbon’s Francisco Trincão has completed a move to Al Ahli instead, Fabrizio Romano confirmed, ending City’s interest in the winger. The Saudi club have paid a fixed £33.7m plus £3.7m in add-ons, with City’s pursuit always the more conditional of the two Premier League interested parties — reports had linked any move to Savinho leaving the Etihad first, and that domino never fell in time.
Trincão’s 13 goals and 15 assists for Sporting last season made him one of the more sought-after wingers of the summer; City will need to look elsewhere as they continue reshaping the attack following Bernardo Silva’s departure.
Haaland gets his Hollywood moment
A lighter one to close. Erling Haaland has explained why he never replied to a dinner invite from Tom Holland at this year’s Monaco Grand Prix, after the actor went public about being ignored on Jimmy Fallon’s show.
Haaland’s defence, offered on Norwegian talk show A Laget: he didn’t recognise the sender, didn’t follow the film closely enough to know who Holland is, and assumed the message had come from a stranger.
He says he’ll now get in touch and put things right — a rare lighter story after a World Cup that ended for Norway at the quarter-final stage against England.
