Manchester City make contact over Argentine midfielder with competition from Manchester United

The Premier League’s two Manchester giants have reportedly both shown a level of interest in highly-rated Argentine midfielder Thiago Almada.

Last season’s treble winners Manchester City are understood to be in the market for a second central midfield signing of the summer, after securing the services of Chelsea’s Mateo Kovacic in a £30 million deal last month.

However, it is understood that any further recruits in the role will only come to fruition in the event of further exits from midfield this summer, following Ilkay Gundogan’s free transfer to FC Barcelona upon the expiry of his City deal.

Bernardo Silva could yet leave the Etihad Stadium this summer, with the Portugal international weighing up his options and mulling over a lucrative proposal from Saudi Arabia, which is understood to be in excess of £500,000 per week.

That search for possible midfield options has now taken Manchester City in the direction of Argentina’s pool of talent, and a 22-year-old currently plying his trade in Major League Soccer.

That is according to the information of journalist Bruno Gonzalez, who states that both Manchester City and Manchester United have ‘consulted’ with MLS side Atlanta United over Argentina international midfielder Thiago Almada.

In early December 2021, Almada’s now-former club Vélez Sarsfield announced that it had reached an agreement with Atlanta United for the pre-transfer of the midfielder in February 2022.

On February 9 2022, the transfer- which was reportedly worth a league-record $16 million – was officially announced by Atlanta, after months of speculation linking the highly-rated central midfielder with moves elsewhere, and specifically Manchester City once again.

Thiago Almada was first linked with a move to Manchester City back in April 2019, when it was claimed that Etihad Stadium officials were willing to spend £20 million to sign the then 18-year-old.