According to a new report from The Athletic, despite a number of clubs in the Premier League and international football expressing strong interest in Manchester City's Ederson and Alvarez, City's exorbitant asking price has been the main obstacle to both potential transfers.
In the goalkeeping position, Ederson's transfer rumors continue to fester. It was previously reported that he had reached a preliminary agreement with Saudi club Riyadh Victory, however, the deal ultimately failed to materialize due to City's insistence on a transfer fee of up to £50 million. Ederson himself has a strong interest in moving to the Saudi League and would like to join clubs such as Jeddah United, but in the face of City's high price, potential buyers such as Jeddah United also appeared to be hesitant.
Meanwhile, striker Alvarez is facing a similar dilemma. He has been the subject of ongoing transfer rumors with La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid, who have shown keen interest in him. However, Manchester City's starting price for Alvarez was as high as 70 million euros with a 20 million euros floating clause, which was undoubtedly a heavy burden for Atletico, making the transfer negotiations stalled.
Manchester City's transfer strategy seems to be very clear: they won't easily consider bringing in new recruits until the players leave. But that doesn't mean that City have completely closed the door on bringing in new players, they just need to adjust their expectations. For Ederson and Alvarez, if they can't bring City a satisfactory transfer fee, then they will probably stay in the team.
In the midfield position, City are still targeting Newcastle United's Guimarães and Bayern Munich's Kimmich. With De Bruyne and XI B (Bernardo Silva) expected to stay in the team, City may make some adjustments in the midfield. Portuguese midfielder Nunes could be the first player to leave the team to make way for the new arrivals if they arrive.
Furthermore, some Premier League clubs have shown interest in Karwin Phillips, but given that he was out on loan for the second half of last season and the fact that City do not see him as part of the team's plans for the future, his most likely option is to leave the club on loan again. The same goes for Cancelo, who has played for Bayern and Barcelona in the last 18 months and City are still not clear on his future destination.
