Pep Guardiola eyes January bid for Ruben Neves

Bengaluru, August 20: Wolverhampton Wanderers wonderkid Ruben Neves has become a potential £60 million January target for Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola is still in the hunt for a defensive midfielder after losing out to Chelsea in the battle to land Jorginho in the summer.

It was thought that Manchester City would surely land Jorginho this summer but the Brazil-born Italian international eventually moved to Chelsea with Maurizio Sarri taking charge at the Stamford Bridge.

That means Pep Guardiola is still looking for a ball-playing number six and has his sights on Portuguese midfielder Ruben Neves now.

The 21-year-old shot up City’s list of possibles after Guardiola’s most wanted headed to Stamford Bridge instead.

The former Barcelona and Bayern boss has admitted he would look at spending big again in the next window if the right man was available.

Neves, a sensation in 12 months at Wolves, has been dubbed the Portugese Andrea Pirlo, the Italian legend who is also his childhoon hero and icon.

The Cityzens travel to Molineux next week and had scouts in the ground for the Premier League new boys’ first game last week, when Neves scored one and made another in the 2-2 draw with Everton.

Guardiola wants someone who can do the holding job and Neves, for all his attacking talents, has impressed when he has filled the role.

The youngster is represented by Jorge Mendes, who already has a number of players at City such as Bernardo Silva and Ederson.

Guardiola is also aware of Neves’ comments earlier this month, when he admitted he is a huge fan of the Manchester City boss and was looking forward playing at the Etihad most of all this term.

He is contracted to until 2023 and Wolves are under no financial pressure to sell especially as his price tag will rocket even further if he continues his storming start to life in the Premier League.

But the prospect of playing under Guardiola would hugely appeal to the player, and he is certainly on the “watch list” of City’s January targets.