Manchester City fighting Liverpool and Chelsea for €30M Serie A defender to partner Abdukodir Khusanov | OneFootball

Manchester City are interested in signing French defender Oumar Solet from Udinese in the summer transfer window, as per reports from Italy.

City will make waves in the upcoming transfer window to clear out deadwood in Pep Guardiola’s current list of options and make way for fresh blood to challenge for the Premier League and UEFA Champions League next term.

Defence has been an area of major concern for Guardiola and co as each of Manuel Akanji, John Stones and Nathan Ake have missed significant portions of the campaign, forcing City to spend a combined fee north of £63 million on Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis in January.

Ruben Dias has also missed a few weeks to injury but has been a mainstay and fulcrum of City’s injury-riddled backline, with Josko Gvardiol an ever-present since the start of the season and earning huge praise from his manager for his consistency and availability throughout Manchester City’s struggles this term.

A disastrous run of form in the autumn of last year saw Kyle Walker head to AC Milan on loan for the rest of the season in January and Rico Lewis has partnered Khusanov to provide cover in the position in the absence of Walker.

City will make wholesale changes to their squad in the summer following the arrival and beginning of work by incoming sporting director Hugo Viana, who will work with Txiki Begiristain in the coming months and launch a clearout between now and the beginning of the 2025-26 campaign.

Sportitalia are reporting that Manchester City have added Udinese centre-back Oumar Solet to their list of targets for the summer transfer window, with at least one of Ake, Stones or Akanji expected to leave at the end of the season.

Liverpool and Chelsea are also understood to be tracking the 25-year-old Frenchman, who was released by RB Salzburg last summer before Udinese signed him on a two-and-a-half year deal till the summer of 2027 in January, as relayed by Sport Witness. Solet is believed to be valued at €30 million by Udinese, who could look to capitalise on a possible bidding war.

City are well stocked in the centre-half position as things stand following their purchases in January and despite the likelihood of at least one of Ake, Stones and Akanji being moved on, it does remain unlikely the club will add to the area in the summer.

Guardiola is desperate for legs in midfield and City will also be in the market for at least one full-back, with Juventus’ Andrea Cambiaso identified as a key target for the 2023 treble winners despite how well the likes of Gvardiol and Khusanov have deputised at full-back.