Man City plan £100m January spending spree to catch leaders Liverpool

Manchester City are set for a £100m spending spree in the January transfer window, reports the Daily Mirror, as they try to keep pace with Liverpool in the Premier League title race.

Trailing the Reds by nine points, and still smarting from Sunday’s 3-1 loss at Anfield, the Sky Blues are determined to make a fight of it in the second half of the season.

The Mirror claims that Pep Guardiola’s decision not to replace Vincent Kompany has “backfired spectacularly” and the City boss is desperate to shore up his defence in the new year.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Similarly, he will also “target” replacements for midfielder David Silva and Sergio Aguero, both of whom are looking their age this season.

Guardiola has asked the board for £100m in readies to bring in three big names in the new year and the war chest will be provided without hesitation.

However, City have reached their ceiling of foreign players in the squad, so they won’t be able to sign any new players unless they first ship some out.

Oyarzabal in, Sane out

As to which players Guardiola might look to sign, the Daily Express claims that Real Sociedad winger Mikel Oyarzabal is on the Spaniard’s wishlist.

With Leroy Sane expected to be sold to Bayern Munich in January, the 22-year-old Oyarzabal is highly-regarded by Guardiola and is seen as a like-for-like replacement.

Olmo in transfer tussle

Italian outlet CalcioMercato namechecks Dinamo Zagreb forward Dani Olmo as another target for Guardiola. The 21-year-old has been earning rave reviews for his composed performances this season and apparently the young forward is ready to make the move to a “bigger” club.

AC Milan have been hot on his trail for a while but with the Italian club languishing in the bottom half of Serie A, the Spanish frontman is more likely to listen to the advances of Guardiola. According to reports, Zagreb want around £35m in return for Olmo.

Arteta can go

Finally, talkSPORT reports that City “will not stand in the way” should Mikel Arteta ask to leave the club to replace Unai Emery as Arsenal manager.

Speculation is growing that the former Gunner will be brought in to succeed the floundering Emery, and according to talkSPORT Arteta is “keen to make the step up to become a manager in his own right”.

City understand his ambition and would be happy to release him if their terms and conditions are met.

Today’s back pages

England boss Southgate ‘had to ban Sterling’ after Gomez incident