“The subject is closed” – Journalist provides clarity on Manchester City ‘interest’ in Barcelona’s Dani Olmo | OneFootball

Reported Manchester City interest in Barcelona’s Dani Olmo has been clarified by another journalist in Spain this week ahead of the summer transfer window.

The Spain international became the latest attacking midfield star to be linked with a move to the Etihad Stadium, as club officials at Manchester City embark on a mammoth search to replace Kevin De Bruyne this summer.

The 33-year-old will be leaving the club after 10 remarkable years of service after it was decided within the City Football Academy offices that fresh terms would not be offered to arguably Manchester City’s greatest-ever player.

Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz was identified as the number one target to replace De Bruyne, and while City officials will not give up on the idea of signing the German, the current feeling is that a stay in Germany via a move to Bayern Munich is more likely.

That line of reporting perhaps was the reason why a new name had cropped up in European media this week, with the four-in-a-row Premier League champions tied to links with Barcelona’s Dani Olmo – a player said to be a ‘dream’ of Pep Guardiola’s.

However, according to the information of journalist David Ibáñez for El Desmarque, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness, there is no suggestion that either Barcelona or Olmo himself would be wanting to part ways amid interest from Manchester City.

“We have to remember that [Manchester] City was one of the teams bidding for Dani Olmo when Barcelona was after him,” Ibáñez explained in his report.

“He had good offers from the English club, because Guardiola loves him, and also from Bayern Munich after attracting attention in the Bundesliga. The two offers he had were good, even better than Barcelona’s financially speaking.”

He continued, “Olmo wanted to return to Barça because he left La Masia, he was keen on the Barça option, with a new coach and a new adventure. The subject is closed. Barça wants Dani Olmo and Dani Olmo wants Barça.”

For now, City are likely to maintain their attentions on Leverkusen’s Wirtz, and other reports in England have pointed towards Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White as another name likely to appear on the club’s priority shortlist this summer.

The last update concerning the Englishman was that City bosses would lead the race for the player when the season ends and the market reopens, with expected competition from the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United.

Interest in midfielders this summer is expected to take up the majority of the club’s focus, while follow-up transfer activity will likely centre around the right-sided full-back role and possibly the goalkeeper ranks, depending on the futures of Ederson and Stefan Ortega Moreno.