Manchester City are set to sign Barcelona left-back Juan Larios, with Premier League rivals Arsenal and Liverpool missing out.
Arsenal and Liverpool are set to miss out on Barcelona left-back Juan Larios, according to the Daily Record, with Manchester City on the verge of swooping for the ‘next Jordi Alba’.
After snapping up highly-rated centre-back Eric Garcia and returning to steal Adrian Bernabe some 12 months’ later, Pep Guardiola’s Premier League champions are close to completing another raid on the Catalan kings.
Sport claimed last week that Larios was set to turn down the chance to become Barcelona’s third-best paid youth team player in order to join Manchester City instead, and the Daily Record has now backed up these reports.
A source close to the teenager admitted that City was the ideal destination due to the Spanish-speaking influence at the Etihad Stadium, with the Manchester giants expected to pay a compensation fee of around £350,000.
Interestingly, the report adds that Arsenal have missed their chance after refusing to match the pay packet put together by Manchester City while Larios’s representatives also turned their nose up at a potential move to Liverpool.
Larios, who has been likened to the evergreen Alba due to his rapid pace and swashbuckling style, will play for City’s youth teams initially and will be hoping to follow the likes of Garcia, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Phil Foden into the first-team.
Manchester City’s problems at left-back are well documented and they will hope that ‘Juanito’ can make the position his own in the years to come.
Have something to tell us about this article?
