La Liga centre-back eyed by Manchester City for January transfer window switch | OneFootball

Manchester City are eyeing a move for one of La Liga’s standout central defenders during the upcoming January transfer window, according to reports.

The Premier League champions have been tied with a number of potential targets during the winter market, but have already moved swiftly to deny interest in two of the more expensive names linked with the club.

Manchester City issued briefings to some portions of the press to deny any interest in the likes of Newcastle United’s Bruno Guimaraes and Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi in the upcoming January window, despite recent reports suggesting otherwise.

However, while central midfield may be more problematic for the club, it appears as though recruitment chiefs may continue to adopt their usual strategy of approaching rising talents following a string of deals completed in recent years.

One of those is set to be finalised in the coming weeks, with Argentina youth international Claudio Echeverri joining Manchester City in January after spending a year on-loan with his former club River Plate after reaching an agreement with the Premier League champions.

Now, according to the information of journalist Alan Nixon, Manchester City are said to be wanting to sign Sierra Leone’s rising star Juma Bah, before keeping the player in Spain for the remainder of the ongoing season.

It is claimed that the Premier League champions see the 18-year-old as a future star following his performances whilst on loan at Real Valladolid in Spain, and as such they intend to make an offer to both his parent club AIK Freetong and the player.

Given his rising stock in Spanish football, City are likely to face intense competition and the report claims that FC Barcelona, AC Milan, Crystal Palace, Newcastle United, and Lens are all interested in his services.

In fact, such is the level of interest from the latter that it is claimed the French side have already made an offer at his £12 million asking price with an intention of signing the teenager now, but Juma Bah himself ‘really wants to’ make a move to the Premier League.

It remains to be seen what Manchester City’s longer-term plans would be for the young central defender, however some have already began to speculate that the position within Pep Guardiola’s first-team squad may require addressing during the summer.

The centre of the champions’ defence has been hampered by injury throughout the ongoing campaign with Ruben Dias the latest to succumb to a longer-term issue, whilst John Stones has sustained a recurrence of a former problem.

Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji have both been dealing with their respective fitness problems over the last few weeks, and at one stage City had to compete without any of their mainstay central defenders, opening up an opportunity for Jahmai Simpson-Pusey.