Manchester City have tabled a new £77 million bid for Josko Gvardiol, who has verbally agreed to join the Premier League champions.

City, who also won the FA Cup and Champions League to complete a stunning treble last season, are determined to secure the signature of RB Leipzig defender Gvardiol, who the German club value at around £85 million.

According to Sky Sports, the European champions have reportedly tabled a new bid worth £77 million plus add-ons after reaching a verbal agreement with the player according to Sky Sports.

Leipzig would prefer to keep the 21-year-old and are under no pressure to sell one of their star assets as Gvardiol signed a new contract until 2027, having been linked with a move to Chelsea last summer.

The London club instead signed Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli and Wesley Fofana from Leicester.

Gvardiol had an international breakthrough during the World Cup in Qatar at the end of last year, but his club accept that if the offer is too good to turn down they will allow him to leave. He came through the Dinamo Zagreb youth system and joined Leipzig in 2020.

He already has 21 caps for Croatia and the added advantage is that he can play as a left-back, too. Pep Guardiola is a huge admirer of the player and the Manchester City manager has made him one of his top targets this summer.

If Gvardiol does end up signing for City, he will join a long list of central defenders already at the club: Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Ake and John Stones, with Guardiola increasingly keen to play them in the full-back positions,too.

Guardiola’s side is close to finalising a deal with Chelsea over the transfer of Mateo Kovacic, and will also be hoping to add Gvardiol to the squad in the coming days.

Leipzig are also in the process of adding to their squad, with Fabio Carvalho expected to join on loan. Liverpool made clear their opposition to any permanent bid, so once the agreement is completed next week, the player will sign for a season-long loan.