From Fabrizio Romano: Manchester City target transfer hijack for Serbian midfielder

Manchester City have their sights set on the hijack of Serbian midfielder Matija Popovic’s potential move to Serie A giants AC Milan, according to reports.

The latest transfer rumour concerning the reigning Premier League champions continues the trend of Etihad Stadium bosses aiming to stay ahead of their competitors when it comes to recruiting the world’s best talent.

In recent seasons, Manchester City and the wider City Football Group have often been successful in bringing top youth prospects to the City Football Academy or their sister clubs with a view towards development for Pep Guardiola’s first-team or profits.

A number of names to make the switch to Europe have included the likes of Yan Couto, Diego Rosa, and Maximo Perrone, while Manchester City could yet add to their list of South American talents through Boca Juniors’ Valentin Barco.

Now, officials in transfer-focussed departments have turned to the European game in their latest transfer pursuit, aiming to hijack one of their top-level competitors for the signing of an emerging talent from Serbia.

According to the information of transfer market insider Fabrizio Romano, Premier League champions Manchester City are ‘trying to hijack’ a deal to sign Serbian-born midfielder Matija Popović as a free agent, with talks currently ongoing.

It is detailed that while Serie A giants AC Milan had been in talks to sign Popović since October, nothing had been signed or sealed, and the teenager was in attendance at Manchester City’s UEFA Champions League group stage meeting with Crvena zvezda in Belgrade last week.

Manchester City showed off their rising talents of their own when clashing with Red Star Belgrade to further confirm their place in the last-16 of the UEFA Champions League, defeating their opponents courtesy of a 2-3 scoreline.

Debutant Micah Hamilton scored, alongside Oscar Bobb and Kalvin Phillips, in what was the trio’s first goals for the club on a historic night for last season’s historic Treble-winning squad. Mahamadou Susoho also made his debut for Manchester City in Belgrade.