Manchester City searching for wingers as Savinho nears £65M Tottenham transfer | OneFootball

Manchester City are actively searching for winger reinforcements as they close in on the sale of Savinho to Tottenham Hotspur for around £65 million, as per a new report.

Savinho‘s departure from the Etihad Stadium has been increasingly anticipated throughout the summer, with Tottenham having named the Brazilian as their “chosen target” in the wide attacking position in recent days and the two clubs now understood to be approaching a conclusion to negotiations.

The £65 million fee being discussed would represent a significant return on a player who arrived at the Etihad Stadium from Girona on a permanent basis just over 12 months ago, and would provide director of football Hugo Viana with meaningful funds to reinvest in addressing the very gap that Savinho’s departure will create.

Tottenham’s pursuit of the Brazilian is the second time this summer that the north London club have successfully moved to sign a Manchester City player or a target City had identified, having already beaten Viana’s side to the signing of Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United earlier in the window.

The development confirms what the broader shape of Manchester City’s summer has consistently indicated – that the club are operating simultaneously on both sides of the market, with the proceeds of player sales being recycled into a recruitment drive that Viana and manager Enzo Maresca are conducting in parallel rather than sequentially.

Report: City close Savinho sale as winger search opens in earnest

According to Simon Jones of Mail Sport, Manchester City are looking for winger additions as they close the sale of Savinho to Tottenham for around £65 million – a formulation that places both pieces of business in active motion simultaneously rather than treating the sale as a prerequisite to the search.

That framing is significant, suggesting that Viana and his recruitment staff are already well advanced in assessing potential replacements and will not be entering the winger market from scratch once the Savinho deal is officially concluded.

The timing of City’s search aligns closely with the profile of wide attacker that Maresca has been understood to want since his appointment – a player capable of dribbling and creating chances through passes, a description that Savinho himself would have met but that the club are now tasked with finding elsewhere in a window that is already past its midpoint.

Manchester City’s interest in Francisco Trincão of Sporting CP has been previously reported, though direct talks with the Portuguese club have yet to be confirmed, with the Brazilian’s departure potentially accelerating whatever conversations are needed to identify and move for the right profile of wide player before the window closes.

What does Savinho’s £65M exit mean for Man City’s rebuild?

A fee of £65 million for a player of Savinho’s age and profile would be a broadly satisfactory outcome for Manchester City, providing Viana with a substantial injection of capital at precisely the moment the club need to address the winger position without having planned to do so from the outset of the summer.

The speed with which City have pivoted from resisting Savinho’s departure to actively searching for his replacement reflects the pragmatism that has characterised Viana’s approach to the market throughout the window – an understanding that when a club of Tottenham’s stature names a player as their chosen target and is prepared to pay £65 million to sign him, resisting that interest serves neither the player’s nor the club’s best interests.

For Maresca, the challenge is now to find a winger who can deliver the directness and creativity that Savinho brought to the squad whilst also fitting the precise technical profile the Italian has outlined as his requirement – a search that may well take the remainder of the summer window to complete given the competitive nature of the market for elite wide attackers at this stage of July.

Whether Manchester City move quickly to conclude a deal for a specific target or allow the winger search to extend into the final weeks of the window will depend largely on how rapidly the right option emerges from a market that has already been shaped significantly by the business both clubs have conducted this summer.