Pep Guardiola tells Viana to sign elite Barcelona duo before Man Utd

Pep Guardiola wants Manchester City to beat Manchester United in the race for Fermin Lopez and another top Barcelona star, reports have claimed.

Man City had a disappointing 2024-25 campaign as they went trophyless and finished third in the Premier League table, 13 points behind champions Liverpool. The City hierarchy began to realise early on last season that their ageing squad was on the decline and that a big freshen up would be required to get them challenging for the biggest trophies once again.

City began their squad revamp in January, bringing in Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis. And there have been more new arrivals this summer.

Guardiola’s side have spent a further £116m (€135m / $160m) to sign Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders and Marcus Bettinelli.

But City are unlikely to stop there, with new director of football Hugo Viana looking to make his mark.

According to Spanish outlet Fichajes, Viana is pursuing Barca midfielder Lopez after Guardiola ‘demanded’ his signing.

It is claimed that the shock Club World Cup defeat to Al-Hilal has seen Guardiola draw up a new set of transfer targets, with Spain star Lopez towards the top of his list.

Guardiola supposedly believes that Lopez can become a ‘key player’ in the latest phase of his City project. Guardiola wants the 22-year-old to help replace Etihad icon Kevin De Bruyne alongside recent arrival Cherki.

Guardiola and City believe there is the potential to bring Lopez to England as his Barca future is ‘up in the air’. The playmaker could be sold to help Barca fund the capture of Nico Williams from Athletic Club.

It emerged on Wednesday that City’s rivals Manchester United are on alert after Barca put Lopez, Ronald Araujo and Marc-Andre ter Stegen up for sale. That report claimed Lopez will cost around €80m (£69m / $94m), but this update suggests he is actually available for the far lower price of €50m (£43m / $59m).

That is a very enticing fee for one of the gems of Spanish football. United are big fans of Lopez and previously discussed a potential swap deal involving him and Marcus Rashford, though there is now the prospect Ruben Amorim’s side could miss out on the LaLiga ace to City.

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Ter Stegen another target for Man City

A separate report from Fichajes states that City could pile more misery on United by winning the chase for goalkeeper Ter Stegen.

Guardiola is ‘exploring the market’ for a new No 1 to replace Ederson, who has received criticism for his performances in recent months. Guardiola has ‘set his sights’ on Ter Stegen as the German could be ousted as Barca’s starting keeper by summer signing Joan Garcia.

Ter Stegen has publicly stated he wants to remain at Barca, though club chiefs in Catalonia are ready to consider offers knowing his exit would significantly reduce their wage bill.

Sources confirmed to TEAMtalk on June 13 that both City and United are looking at Ter Stegen amid their respective searches for a new keeper.

As with Lopez, there is now a chance City could beat United to a deal for Ter Stegen.

Despite indications that Barca would be willing to let Ter Stegen go for free, it is thought that either City or United would have to pay €20m (£17m / $23.5m) to sign the shot-stopper.

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