Jakarta –
Manchester City on the verge of landing Josko Gvardiol, as well as making him the club’s most expensive defender. This happened after Gvardiol almost turned into a fishmonger a few years ago.
RB Leipzig has received an offer from Man City to propose to Gvardiol. The 21-year-old defender was reportedly bought for £77 million at the start, plus other potential additions. This is the most expensive nominal issued by the Citizens for a defender, surpassing the price of Ruben Dias, at 61.6 million pounds, who was signed from Benfica in 2020.
Transfer value to Man City it also almost broke the record for the world’s most expensive defender. Currently, the title of the world’s most expensive defender is still held by English defender Harry Maguire, who was recruited by Manchester United from Leicester City for £80 million in 2019.
Megatransfer Guardiol it also brings out the story of his past. Several years ago, the player born in Zagreb, Croatia, apparently almost left football.
Josko Gvardiol helps father sell fish
As reported talkSPORT, that situation was faced by Gvardiol about five years ago. At that time his future as a footballer seemed blurry at the Dinamo Zagreb club.
This at that time made the young Josko Gvardiol despair. In the midst of his daily life helping his father sell fish at the city market in Zagreb, including regularly getting up at 4 in the morning, he started to think about leaving football.
“I was 16 or 17 and still on the youth team bench. I was frustrated and thought about quitting football,” he told the Times in February.
“I actually hate fish. Imagine being 16 years old and every day the only food in the house is fish. I actually wanted to try something else.”
Gvardiol’s career suddenly took off
However, it was also at that moment that Gvardiol’s football career began to show a bright spot. He managed to get the opportunity to appear, which then maximized his success.
“I don’t know what happened then, but after that I started playing and they saw something in me, my quality, and within a year I was in Zagreb’s back-up team,” he recalled.
“Within six months, I broke into the first team together with Dani Olmo (who later became his partner at RB Leipzig).”
Since then, the door of opportunity after opportunity has opened. RB Leipzig was smitten with Gvardiol in action and bought him in 2020.
s Josko Gvardiol celebrates after scoring his side’s opening goal during the UEFA Champions League round of sixteen first leg soccer match between RB Leipzig and Manchester City in Leipzig, Germany, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Andreas Gora)” title=”Josko Gvardiol” class=”p_img_zoomin” />Josko Gvardiol dengan cepat menjadi pilar RB Leipzig. Foto: AP/Andreas Gora
RB Leipzig had loaned Gvardiol back to Zagreb for one season. But after officially playing at the German club, Josko Gvardiol quickly became one of the pillars of RB Leipzig.
“Initially I had two options, to Leeds or Leipzig. (Marcelo) Bielsa was coach (Leeds) at that time and I really wanted to play in the Premier League. (But) I knew it would still take some time before playing there.”
With the move to Man City done soon, If Guardiol is now on the verge of realizing his desire to play in England. This happened even though just a few years ago he contemplated, early on, hanging up his boots.
(krs/bay)
2023-08-04 11:00:15
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