By 90min | Created at 2025-01-09 13:08:53 | Updated at 2025-01-09 22:52:39
9 hours ago
Manchester City are making quick progress with their pursuit of Palmeiras centre-back Vitor Reis, with reports that personal terms have been agreed wth the teenage Brazilian. Lens defender Abdukodir Khusanov also remains on their January transfer window wishlist.
City's stranglehold on the Premier League came to a sudden end as autumn turned into winter, losing six league games from the start of November until Christmas alone. That is more defeats in a seven-week run than in any of last three complete Premier League seasons.
Across the squad, age is starting to take hold, with nine players aged 30 or over and a further three already 29. Rodri will be part of that older group by the time he returns from injury too.
Multiple reports, including from BBC Sport, have named Reis and Khusanov as January targets. Both are centre-backs and both are at the very start of their respective football journeys.
UOL were the first to share that an agreement is in place with Reis and his agent, with a proposed contract considered "ready". Negotiations with Palmeiras are ongoing over closing a €40m (£33.5m) deal, in the hope that it can complete before rivals bidders become involved.
Reis could join City soon / Ricardo Moreira/GettyImages
Reis will turn 19 at the end of this month and is yet another off the Palmeiras production line that has recently also churned out Endrick and Chelsea-bound Estevao Willian. City previously did business with the Brazilian club to land a teenage Gabriel Jesus in January 2017.
At 20, Khusanov is slightly older. He has been based in in France since 2023, joining RC Lens from Belarusian side Energetik-BGU. The Uzbekistan international, who would become the first from the central Asian country to play in the Premier League, is also valued at €40m. The Athletic state City are working to beat the likes of Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur to his signature.
City additionally remain linked with £50m-rated Eintracht Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush and Bayern Munich maestro Jamal Musiala, who has entered the last 18 months of his contract.
This winter will be the last that long-serving director of football Txiki Begiristain oversees before he steps away and hands the reins to pre-arranged replacement Hugo Viana.
