Stunned! Man City surprised as £85 million offer for another midfielder gets turned down
Manchester City were reportedly left completely surprised after Bayern Munich midfielder Aleksandar Pavlović turned down a move to the club during the summer transfer window.
The Blues spent a huge £320 million to rebuild their midfield under new head coach Enzo Maresca, and Pavlović was one of the players they had their eye on.
City ended up signing Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson, Lille’s young talent Ayyoub Bouaddi, and Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez instead. But things might have been different if Pavlović had accepted the chance to join the Etihad Stadium.
A German news outlet, Bild, says that Bayern’s young star Pavlović was offered the chance to sign for City this summer. The report says City first made a €100 million (£85 million) offer for the 22-year-old back in March when Pep Guardiola was still the manager.
At that time, Pavlović was seen as City’s top midfield target for the summer. But after Maresca took over, they looked at other options. Once they signed Anderson, City wanted to bring in either Bouaddi, Pavlović, or Barcelona’s Marc Bernal. However, it quickly became clear that Pavlović wasn’t interested in moving.
Christian Falk said, “I heard they were flabbergasted. They didn’t expect that. They might have been willing to pay more to Bayern too. But there wasn’t even a formal offer because Pavlović said, ‘No, I’m not coming anyway.’”
Pavlović grew up in Bayern’s youth academy and showed loyalty by rejecting City’s offer. Since his debut in 2023, he’s played 102 games for Bayern in the Bundesliga, scoring eight goals and helping with six assists.
The report adds that he has a deep love for Bayern and wants to win the Champions League with them before thinking about his future.
Julian Agardi said, “Pavlović is from Munich, born here. There are pictures of him as a little kid wearing a Bayern jersey. He’s openly a Bayern fan, and you can see that whenever you speak to him.”
“He’s close friends with teammates like Tom Bischof, Lennart Karl, and Nene Brown. It’s surprising he turned down the offer so clearly. This shows he has no plans to leave and feels right at home at Bayern, seeing his future with the club.”