Joško Gvardiol transfer battle heats up with €100m on offer — report

Chelsea tried to steal a march on the competition back in the summer with a €90m bid for Joško Gvardiol, but our caper didn’t quite work. RB Leipzig’s mama didn’t raise no fool after all. They knew to wait for the inevitable bidding war for the 20-year-old’s services. His excellent showing at the World Cup, helping Croatia reach the semifinals for the second tournament in a row, has been just a bonus.

And sure enough, since our deadline day (attempted) shenanigans two others have reportedly joined the fray with actual bids. Manchester United are in our ballpark, but Manchester City have upped the ante to nine digits. And Bayern Munich are apparently also lurking, with Real Madrid and even Barcelona not far behind, as detailed by Foot Mercato’s report from this weekend.

The bidding has only just begun, concludes the report, which is precisely what Leipzig were hoping for and what we were trying to avoid. January is just around the corner, though at this rate, this is likely to drag on into next summer. Either way, we’re going to have to dig deep in our pockets if we want to convince Gvardiol.