Serie A challengers Inter desperately want to keep Lorenzo Pirola amid interest from Pep Guardiola’s Premier League powerhouses Manchester City.
Manchester City are looking to enhance their defensive ranks with Inter Milan wonderkid Lorenzo Pirola, according FC Inter News.
If there is one position where Pep Guardiola’s star-studded squad is perhaps a little light, it’s at centre-back. The fact that Fernandinho and Rodri have both been forced to fill in of late, thanks in part to Aymeric Laporte’s long-term injury problems, highlights a potential Achilles heel in this previously unconquerable side.
But Pirola would probably be ‘one for the future’ rather than an immediate addition to Guardiola’s first-team plans.
The report claims that Manchester City sent a scout to watch Pirola in action during Italy’s U17 World Cup clash against Paraguay on Sunday. The highly-rated defender scored the opener in just the third minute but the Azzurri ended up losing 2-1.
Lirola was named the best defender of the tournament at the recent U17 European Championships with his strength in the air and excellent reading of the game marking him out as a special talent. Inter, as you might expect, are desperate to hang onto him, perhaps with Nicolo Zaniolo’s 2018 move to Roma still fresh in their mind.
But should Lirola leave the San Siro for the Etihad, he will have to prove his worth alongside the likes of Eric Garcia, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Philippe Sandler.
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