Manchester City have reportedly set a £5 million asking price for academy prodigy Samuel Edozie, with Bayer Leverkusen negotiating a contract to capture the teenager.
According to Kicker, the Bundesliga club is willing to satisfy City’s demands for the 19-year-old winger, with Leverkusen pursuing and negotiating for Edozie for the past few weeks, albeit neither party has reached an agreement.
Edozie is expected to become the fourth highly-rated teenager from City’s U-23s to leave on a permanent transfer this summer, following the signings of Romeo Lavia and Gavin Bazunu to Southampton, and Vincent Kompany’s recruitment of three youngsters from the Cityzens’ academy in recent weeks.
And now, Edozie is likely to join the list, but Leverkusen are hesitating on a deal, with the German club needing to offload a senior player in order to complete a deal for the City youngster, who, according to Kicker, is anticipated to become a first-team regular for Gerardo Seoane’s side if he joins.
Edozie is highly regarded at City, with Pep Guardiola praising the attacker after multiple senior appearances in pre-season last year, culminating in the winger appearing for the Premier League champions in the Community Shield against Leicester City.
Indeed, Edozie will be a significant loss for the club’s U-23 side next season, but with Leverkusen now willing to meet City’s £5m asking price and working on a method to fund the move, first-team play in Germany is a far more appealing option than another season in Premier League 2.
With the 2022 FIFA World Cup taking place in November, all of Europe’s top divisions will begin significantly earlier in the year than normal, putting a greater emphasis on clubs to capture all of their summer recruits earlier in the window, which applies to Leverkusen in their pursuit of Edozie.
The winger is still in Manchester, and with Leverkusen’s clear interest in Edozie, the German club is doing themselves no favours by delaying a deal to sign the City potential, especially as the player is eager to move to the Bundesliga to kick-start his senior footballing career.
