Pep Guardiola and co are scouting young players and have been linked continuously with Manuel Locatelli, who is one of the stars of Sassuolo. City have, in fact, been interested in him for the last year or so.
The Italian is a good player and is one of the most talented midfielders in Serie A right now. He plays best with two or three midfielders. While Manchester City are “interested” in him, they are only scouting right now.
Sassuolo haven’t received any bid for the player yet, nor have they received any enquiry. Speaking on the transfer on the Here We Go podcast, Fabrizio Romano and Francesco Porzio mentioned that Locatelli will go to a top club, but in Italy and not outside. Sassuolo have asked for a sum worth €40-45 million.
Sassuolo are a difficult club to deal with because the numbers they put out are the numbers they want. Hence, it won’t be easy to sign him unless any club is willing to match thei evaluation of the player. He is always a starter at Sassuolo, but he won’t be offered the same role at City.
However, at the moment, nothing advanced has been planned or achieved. Juventus CFO Fabio Paratici tried signing the player last summer but they asked for the same amount and Juventus didn’t go through.
Dortmund were looking at Jeremy Boga as a replacement for Jadon Sancho, who had been linked with a move away alongside many other clubs like Napoli and Rennes. Sassuolo asked for €45 million or nothing and it was nothing from the Bundesliga outfit.