{"id":15337,"date":"2026-07-08T10:37:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T10:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=15337"},"modified":"2026-07-08T10:37:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T10:37:34","slug":"man-city-struggling-in-gusto-chase-due-to-high-chelsea-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=15337","title":{"rendered":"Man City struggling in Gusto chase due to high Chelsea demand"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Manchester City\u2019s summer rebuild is entering a new phase under Enzo Maresca, and the right-back position appears to be one area the club are assessing carefully.
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With Pep Guardiola now gone, City are not just looking for talented players, they need signings who fit Maresca\u2019s ideas, understand possession-heavy football and can handle the physical demands of the Premier League.<\/p>\n

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That makes Chelsea\u2019s situation interesting. The London club have several strong options in defence, but selling a young full-back to a direct rival would always be a difficult call.<\/p>\n

City may admire the player, but admiration alone will not be enough if Chelsea\u2019s asking price remains too high.<\/p>\n

Man City interest meets Chelsea\u2019s firm stance<\/h2>\n

According to The Athletic, Manchester City are big admirers of Malo Gusto, but Chelsea\u2019s valuation of the 23-year-old is considered prohibitively high.<\/p>\n

Unless there is a major change, City are expected to look elsewhere, although the report adds that there are not many other options in the market who strongly appeal.<\/p>\n

The interest makes sense from City\u2019s point of view. Gusto is quick, aggressive, technically clean and comfortable playing in advanced areas, all qualities that could suit Maresca\u2019s system.<\/p>\n

The Italian already knows Chelsea well from his time at Stamford Bridge, which may also explain why City\u2019s recruitment team are looking closely at players from that squad.<\/p>\n

However, the financial side is the major obstacle. The Independent reported that Chelsea are demanding around \u00a375 million for Gusto, with City among the clubs interested in the France international.<\/p>\n

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Maresca presence makes this a complicated deal<\/h2>\n

City\u2019s change in direction is important here. Reuters reported that Maresca was appointed as Man City manager on a three-year deal after the club agreed compensation with Chelsea, replacing Guardiola ahead of the new season.<\/p>\n

This would be a smart signing for City in football terms, but not at any price.<\/p>\n

Gusto has the profile to become a long-term solution at right-back, and his energy would fit well in a team that wants to dominate the ball and press high.<\/p>\n

From Chelsea\u2019s side, though, selling him to City would be a huge risk. Reece James has had injury issues, so Gusto is more than just a backup.<\/p>\n

Unless City make an offer Chelsea cannot refuse, this feels like a transfer chase that could end with Maresca having to look elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Enzo Maresca offers \u00a3100m winger fresh lifeline in Man City rebuild <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Manchester City\u2019s summer rebuild is entering a new phase under Enzo Maresca, and the right-back…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}