Agent reveals Manchester City walked away from €50 million transfer talks in January | OneFootball

Manchester City walked away from the possibility of recruiting a top-level full-back during the January transfer window, the player’s agent has revealed.

The January market was a chaotic period for Pep Guardiola’s side, with several factors contributing to their pivot away from the usual strategy of saving the bulk of transfer activity for the off-season and summer window.

Injuries across key positions and strategic reshuffling led Manchester City to prioritise other areas of the squad away from full-back, and while interest in Juventus’ Andrea Cambiaso was genuine, such plans were ultimately shelved as the club restructured mid-season.

City’s defensive depth was already under scrutiny during the winter period, with John Stones and Manuel Akanji both dealing with fitness concerns. However, rather than pursuing a big-money move for an established name, the Premier League giants opted to focus on future planning.

Sealing deals for promising prospects like Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov, Manchester City’s decisions at the midway stage of the season hinted at a longer-term strategy over short-term reinforcement, especially in defence.

This also came at a time when City had ongoing midfield issues largely stemming from the club’s struggle at replacing the long-term injured Rodri, opening the door for Nico Gonzalez’s unexpected arrival from FC Porto, adding to the club’s midfield options.

Now speaking during a new interview with Sky Sport Italia, as translated and relayed by Football Italia, the agent of Andrea Cambiaso, Giovanni Bia has offered insight into Manchester City’s interest in the Italian defender back in January.

“We were informed of the talks and gave our availability, waiting to find out how the negotiations would go,” Bia revealed. “It didn’t go through because at that moment Manchester City had some serious problems and needed to intervene on the transfer market, buying [Abdukodir] Khusanov, [Vitor] Reis and Nico Gonzalez.”

Discussing the valuation of the proposed deal for Cambiaso, Giovanni Bia continued, “I don’t know, in my view it was closer to €45 million to €50 million, but we never got into it because the two clubs were still doing the talking.

“In the space of a few days, they had to invest that money in other positions and the talks were abandoned.”

City’s interest in Cambiaso is unlikely to disappear completely, especially given the full-back’s development and status at Juventus, as well as his versatility down the flanks. While January may not have been the right time to negotiate a high-value deal, the situation could easily resurface in the longer-term future.

At present, Pep Guardiola continues to utilise a mix of natural and inverted full-backs, with the likes of Rico Lewis and Matheus Nunes being rotated in wide roles depending on tactical needs, and following on from Kyle Walker’s exit to AC Milan, and permanently to Burnley this summer.

The story also reinforces City’s increasingly adaptive transfer strategy, one that blends immediate needs with longer-term squad building. Should Andrea Cambiaso continue to impress in Serie A and on the European stage with Juventus, the Etihad club could return with renewed interest when the time – and financial circumstances – are more favourable.