Manchester City have had an offer of €89m rejected by Atletico Madrid for defender Jose Gimenez.
Pep Guardiola has identified his defence as an area for improvement in this transfer window and has already signed Nathan Ake from Bournemouth for a reported fee of £40m.
However, he wants more reinforcements in the backline, with a world-class starting defender on his wishlist to reportedly play alongside Aymeric Laporte.
Throughout the off-season, Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly has been the player most frequently linked with plugging the hole in City’s defence, but the Serie A side’s asking price combined with the player’s age have led to Guardiola looking elsewhere.
Gimenez is the latest player City have targeted, and, according to AS, they have already had two bids turned down for the Uruguayan.
Last week, a €70m offer was rejected, with a subsequently increased offer of €89m also turned down by Atletico Madrid.
The latest negotiation from City included a number of performance-based bonuses, but Atletico are adamant that if Gimenez is to leave the club it will be after his €120m release clause is triggered.
AS reports that Gimenez is not pushing for the move, but will be happy to speak to City should Atletico agree on a fee.
Last season, Man City and Atletico found themselves in a similar stalemate surrounding the transfer of Rodri, which was eventually broken after his €70m release clause was triggered.
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