Manchester City is reportedly interested in signing Inter Milan defender Alessandro Bastoni.
The Manchester club added another center-back to their ranks during the recent summer transfer window with the signing of Manuel Akanji from Borussia Dortmund for a reported fee of £15 million.
The Citizens now have five senior center-backs on their roster, including Nathan Ake, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, and Ruben Dias.
Despite that, it seems as though City have their eyes on potentially adding another center-back to their ranks.
THE LATEST: CITY EYEING BASTONI
According to a recent report from Fcinternews.it, City have Bastoni as one of their four or five defensive options in terms of a potential future transfer move.
The report also adds that Pep Guardiola sees the Puma-sponsored defender as an ideal profile for his side and how he wants his team to play.
THE VERDICT: THE CITY SHOULD THINK TWICE
Bastoni, described as a “phenomenon” by Italian football expert Conor Clancy, has only started nine of Inter’s 15 league games, which suggests that he’s not been at the top of the pecking order.
Across his 11 Serie A appearances, the left-footed defender has made nine clearances, and 10 blocks and racked up a combined total of 18 tackles and interceptions, leaving several Inter players with more in each statistic.
His overall performances in Serie A have earned the £85k-per-week figure a rather uninspiring season rating of 6.54/10 from WhoScored, leaving 12 players at Inter with higher ratings than him.
Taking all of this into account, we feel that a move for Bastoni may not be totally necessary for City given the number of center-backs they already have in their squad.
Also, with the way his season has gone so far, there isn’t much to suggest that he would be an immediate and regular starter for City anyway.
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