Manchester City travelled to Germany to monitor performance of Ukraine star in Champions League action | OneFootball

Officials from Manchester City made the trip to Germany this week to monitor the performance levels of a Ukraine star in the UEFA Champions League.

The Premier League champions remain in constant pursuit of the next best emerging talents from across the globe, but as part of that search is the desire to sign adequate replacements for their existing but ageing first-team stars.

Among those that may need to be replaced in the somewhat near future is Kevin De Bruyne, who is approaching the expiry of his existing contract at Manchester City despite remaining a key piece of Pep Guardiola’s complex tactical puzzle.

Whilst there remains a clear desire from the part of Manchester City to extend their relationship with the Belgian playmaker, there is also an acceptance that a replacement for the 33-year-old may be required very soon.

Among those interesting Manchester City from the Bundesliga in particular, a new name has appeared on their transfer radar sparking an in-person monitoring of the player’s performance in UEFA Champions League action this week.

According to the information of TBR Football’s Graeme Bailey, scouts from both Liverpool and Manchester City made a trip to Germany this week to scout Shakhtar Donetsk’s Georgiy Sudakov in UEFA Champions League action.

That contest came against Atalanta, and while the report points out that officials from the two Premier League giants were present to also watch a host of the Italian club’s stars in a 3-0 win over the Ukrainian club, officials were ‘predominantly’ there to watch Sudakov.

It is claimed that both clubs are continuing to assess the ‘special’ 22-year-old, who the Ukrainian side will likely demand a similar fee to the one that Chelsea paid for Mykhailo Mudryk – an initial £62 million rising to £89 million via add-ons back in 2023.

The attacking midfield talent has enjoyed a promising start to the new season in action within Ukraine’s top-flight, scoring three goals and providing an assist across his opening seven league appearances for Shakhtar Donetsk.

Despite only being 22-years-old, Sudakov has a largely unrivalled wealth of experience at the senior level of the game, amassing an outstanding 110 appearances for the Donetsk club thus far in his career.

And within those appearances, Georgiy Sudakov has impressed with his goalscoring and overall contribution in front of goal, providing a hugely commendable 23 goals and 19 assists in that time.