Manchester City’s club-record £64m deal for Ruben Dias will be announced once Nicolas Otamendi passes his Benfica medical… as Pep Guardiola ends two-year pursuit of the centre back
- Ruben Dias will become the most expensive player in Manchester City’s history
- The £64m fee will eclipse the £62.8m spent on midfielder Rodri last summer
- Centre back Nicolas Otamendi will go in the other direction to Benfica for £13.7m
- Dias has passed a medical but City are waiting for the all-clear on Otamendi
Manchester City will complete a club record £64million deal for Ruben Dias, ending a two-year pursuit of the Benfica centre back.
Dias will become the most expensive player in City’s history – eclipsing the £62.8m paid to Atletico Madrid for Rodri a year ago – with Nicolas Otamendi joining Benfica for £13.7m as part of the deal.
The 23-year-old Portugal international has passed a medical but the transfer will only go through once Otamendi has been given the all-clear by his new club.
Benfica captain Ruben DIas is on the verge of signing for Manchester City for £64million
City boss Pep Guardiola has decided to allow Nicolas Otamendi move in the opposite direction
City’s 5-2 capitulation at home to Leicester on Sunday underlined the need to strengthen at the back despite spending £40m on Nathan Ake from Bournemouth.
Dias was one of four options considered by the club which included Kalidou Koulibaly of Napoli, Sevilla’s Jules Kounde and Jose Gimenez at Atletico.
But City believe they have gone for the right man having tracked Dias in previous transfer windows, and got a good deal considering the £80m release clause in his contract.
The Benfica skipper, who has previously attracted interest from Manchester United, Arsenal and Juventus, is understood to fit the bill for Pep Guardiola in terms of age, profile and the quality of defender he wanted.
The 23-year-old has attracted interest from Manchester United, Arsenal and Juventus before
City were put off by the price on both Koulibaly and Gimenez, although no formal bid was made for either player according to sources who say the process has underlined the club’s willingness to walk away from a transfer if the terms are not right.
There were also issues with Sevilla over Kounde’s valuation and it’s believed that City were concerned that the 21-year-old Frenchman was too much of an unknown quantity to bring to the Premier League at this stage of his career.
The opportunity to trade Otamendi to Benfica in exchange for Dias was a bonus with City recouping almost half of the £32m paid to Valencia for the Argentine defender five years ago.
