Manchester City are to kickstart their rebuild under Pep Guardiola with a bid for Lyon midfielder Rayan Cherki.
Guardiola, who is bringing in former Liverpool coach Pep Lijnders as his new assistant, has given the green light for City to bid for Cherki after holding talks with the 21-year-old, who is valued around £35million.
City have already bid £50m for AC Milan attacking midfielder Tijjani Reijnders in the hope he can play in the Club World Cup, which begins for them in Philadelphia against Wydad AC of Morocco on June 18.
If City land both, it will cast doubt on the prospect of Morgan Gibbs-White joining from Nottingham Forest.
City’s pre-Christmas struggles led to extensive January spending, with Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Nico Gonzalez arriving for a cost of more than £172m.
City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak said: ‘Last summer we should have been more aggressive in some of the changes we needed. That ended up costing us this year.’
Manchester City are set to bid for Lyon forward Rayan Cherki as they look to rebuild
Cherki is valued at around £35million and has been linked with a host of Premier League clubs
Pep Guardiola will refresh his City squad and has spoken with the talented Cherki, 21