Ligue 1 club director meets Manchester City board to sign several players on loan | OneFootball

RC Lens sporting director Diego Lopez has held talks with the Manchester City board over the possibility of extending Juma Bah’s loan with the French club, as per a new report.

Bah was signed by Manchester City from Real Valladolid in the January transfer window and sent on loan until the end of the season immediately to RC Lens in Ligue 1, where the 19-year-old has huge a strong impression with a flurry of notable first-team performances.

The centre-back from Sierra Leone is a promising prospect for the future and Manchester City will be keen to progress his development further after securing his signature midway through the season.

City signed Abdukodir Khusanov from RC Lens in the same transfer window and sent Bah the other way and with Khusanov accompanying Vitor Reis through the entry door at the Etihad Stadium, Pep Guardiola is well stocked in central defence for the timebeing.

Khusanov made a fast start to life at the Etihad Stadium but has seen game time difficult to come by in the last month owing largely to the emergence of Nico O’Reilly at left-back, which has seen Josko Gvardiol move to centre-back and partner Ruben Dias.

Matheus Nunes and Rico Lewis have shared the workload at right-back since Kyle Walker joined AC Milan on loan in January and the expectation is for Manchester City to add at least one-full back to the first-team in the summer transfer window, with Walker expected to be sold.

Foot Mercato are reporting that RC Lens director of football Diego Lopez was spotted in Manchester recently and it is believed the Ligue 1 club official held talks with the Manchester City hierarchy to extend Juma Bah’s loan spell in France.

Lens are keen to keep hold of Bah for the entirety of the 2025-26 campaign and Manchester City could look to accept terms and sanction a season-long loan for their teenage defender as he gains regular first-team football, as relayed by Get Football News France.

Interestingly, the report also mentions that Lopez also took the chance to gauge the chances of taking one or two other Manchester City players on loan next season ahead of a busy transfer window of incomings and outgoings at the Etihad Stadium.

Not open heart surgery as such but incoming sporting director Hugo Viana is set to conduct a thorough audit of Guardiola’s squad and back the 54-year-old Catalan in the transfer market to rebuild to challenge on all fronts next season.

City could look to part ways with at least one of their senior centre-backs and that could see either John Stones or Nathan Ake head to the exit door after an injury-marred season for the pair, who have not been reliable and could be moved on by Viana.