From Germany: Manchester City fighting Chelsea and Arsenal for breakthrough Bayern Munich superstar | OneFootball

Manchester City have entered a Premier League triple threat for the services of Bayern Munich and Germany U17 attacker Lennart Karl, as per reports from Germany.

City are forging a title-winning squad for the seasons to come and sent a major warning to their domestic and European rivals in the recent window, wherein they ruthlessly conducted a major squad clear-out and recruited seven new players.

Hugo Viana marked his first summer as Manchester City’s director of football by signing off on the notable exits of Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Ederson, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish and Manuel Akanji in the backdrop of a subpar 2024-25 campaign for Pep Guardiola and co.

The Blues made what is being hailed as the signing of the summer as they pulled off a sensational £26 million capture of Gianluigi Donnarumma from Paris Saint-Germain on the final day of the summer transfer window, with Ederson joining Fenerbahce for £12.1 million.

Viana mitigated the significant loss of De Bruyne – who served as Guardiola’s playmaker-in-chief for nine seasons at the Etihad Stadium – with the shrewd additions of Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki, the pair of whom are still adapting to life in the Premier League.

City overhauled their goalkeeping department with the additions of Donnarumma, James Trafford and Marcus Bettinelli as Scott Carson left the club after six years upon the expiration of the 39-year-old’s contract. Carson announced his retirement from professional football this week.

After a slow start to the season marked by consecutive losses to Tottenham and Brighton in their opening trio of 2025-26 Premier League games, Manchester City have put together a very encouraging run of results as they force themselves back into the conversation for the Premier League title.

However, their continuing over-reliance on Erling Haaland – who has scored 15 times in 12 games in all competitions for City this season – has caused worry among club executives, who could look towards the January 2026 window with a keen eye on possible additions to Guardiola’s frontline.

Bild journalist Christian Falk has reported that Manchester City are monitoring the performances of Bayern Munich teenager forward Lennart Karl, who joined the German giants from Viktoria Aschaffenburg in 2022.

The report, as relayed by Sport Witness, mentions that Manchester City face competition from Chelsea and Arsenal for the 17-year-old attacking midfielder, who can also operate as a winger – much like Cherki, who joined the Blues from Lyon for £34 million in the summer.

Karl is believed to be represented by former Chelsea and Germany midfielder Michael Ballack, with the young attacker in contention to be named in Julian Nagelsmann’s upcoming senior Germany squad after impressing for the U17 side in recent months.

The teenager is under contract at the Allianz Arena till the summer of 2028 but there is no doubt that clubs across the Premier League – including Manchester City – will be making informal, behind-the-scenes enquiries for the young star in the months to come.