Savinho has been left out of Manchester City’s squad for their first game of the new Premier League season as speculation continues over his future.
City will kick off their campaign against Wolves on Saturday afternoon, with Pep Guardiola’s side looking to regain the Premier League title after losing it to Liverpool last campaign.
They have a bloated squad, and Guardiola has expressed the need for his side to offload players before the transfer window closes – though the winger is not one of the players he is looking to lose.
Spurs are keen on signing Savinho, who moved to City from Girona in Spain a year ago and the move appeals to the 21-year-old winger because he wants to star as a Premier League regular rather than a fringe player in the season with a World Cup at the end.
Daily Mail Sport exclusively revealed that Frederico Moraes of ProManager, Savinho’s agent, left Brazil on Thursday to fly to Europe with a view to further negotiations next week.
Guardiola, meanwhile, revealed on Friday that the youngster would not be part of the side to take on Wolves at Molineux – but cited an injury as the reason for his exclusion.
Savinho has been left out of Manchester City’s squad for the first game of the Premier League season
Pep Guardiola’s side need to sell players from a bloated squad but are reluctant to lose the winger this summer
After being asked whether Savinho would be travelling with the team for the game, Guardiola took a long pause before replying: ‘No. Savinho is injured. Sorry, I didn’t remember. He is injured from Palermo, a few weeks he will be out.’
Spurs boss Thomas Frank wants to sign both Savinho and Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze – it is not a case of one of the other. They have different profiles and would fulfil very different roles in the squad if he managed to secure them both.
He is desperately short of creativity with both James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski injured long term and this was evident from open play in the Super Cup, when the two Spurs goals came from set pieces.
City knocked back an enquiry for the Brazil international, revealed earlier in the week, and are thought to only be entertaining offers of more than £50million.
Were City to do business with Spurs, they would turn their attentions to Real Madrid superstar and Savinho’s international team-mate Rodrygo.
Rodrygo has been a constant thorn in City’s side during the titanic Champions League battles of recent seasons and is thought to want a fresh challenge away from the Bernabeu.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak had promised aggression in the transfer market, with City having brought in five new faces either side of the Club World Cup.
Guardiola also left it unclear whether goalkeeper Ederson would be travelling, replying: ‘Apparently, yeah.’ Some have suggested he was saying he is injured, while others claimed he was saying he has been told he’s travelling.
Thomas Frank’s Tottenham are interested in signing the Brazilian, with his agent flying to Europe for talks
Ederson, also from Brazil, has been linked with a move away following the arrival of James Trafford and City’s interest in Gianluigi Donnarumma.
‘If they want to leave, they will come to me,’ Guardiola said. ‘I am working with them because I am here. If they want to leave, they will knock my door.
City still need to let a number of non-homegrown players go to avoid having to omit anybody from their European squad, which limits the number of registered foreign stars.
