Saturday's Manchester City transfer talk news roundup: Timo Werner, Kalidou Koulibaly, Lionel Messi

The summer transfer window has now begun, with rumours and speculation continuing to swirl as Manchester City eye possible reinforcements.

The 2018-19 champions did not bring in a single player during the January transfer window, despite suffering a defensive shortage for much of the 2019-20 campaign, but they have already started their business for the summer.

Here, Sports Mole rounds up the latest news on possible comings and goings at the Etihad.

Saturday morning's Manchester City transfer talk news roundup:

Timo Werner 'snubbed Manchester City for Chelsea move'

© Reuters

Timo Werner reportedly turned down the chance to move to Manchester City before penning a deal with Chelsea earlier in the summer.

Following a hugely impressive 2019-20 campaign for RB Leipzig, where Werner amassed 34 goals from 45 appearances across all competitions, a host of top European sides were tipped to move for the Germany international.

However, it was Chelsea who eventually won the race for the 24-year-old after the Blues activated his £47.5m release clause back in June.

Manchester United and Liverpool were both strongly linked with a swoop for Werner before Chelsea signed the prolific frontman, but according to Bild, City manager Pep Guardiola personally phoned Werner in a bid to convince him to move to the Etihad.

However, the report claims that the Chelsea man was concerned over a potential lack of game time at City with Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus in the ranks, and Werner rejected the offer as he had his heart set on a move to Stamford Bridge.

Werner's compatriot Kai Havertz has also recently made the switch to the blue side of London from Bayer Leverkusen, while Hakim Ziyech, Thiago Silva, Ben Chilwell and Malang Sarr have all signed for Frank Lampard's side this summer.

Manchester City 'unwilling to talk to Napoli over Kalidou Koulibaly deal'

© Reuters

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has claimed that Manchester City are unwilling to hold direct talks over the transfer of Kalidou Koulibaly.

Despite being heavily linked with the centre-back for a number of weeks, City appear no closer to getting a deal for the Senegal international over the line.

At a time when Manchester United are being credited with an interest, De Laurentiis has suggested that City are making little effort to press forward with negotiations due to a previous failed attempt to sign Jorginho.

Speaking at a press conference, De Laurentiis said: "I have answered on this via SMS, because an important English newspaper wrote to me asking: 'What is happening with Koulibaly and Manchester City?'

"I answered that Manchester City is saying it can't talk directly with us because of the problem with Jorginho. How can we then proceed with a serious and serene negotiation for the transfer of a player? Is the reasoning clear?"

In 2018, City believed that they had won the race to sign Jorginho, only for the Italian to follow outgoing boss Maurizio Sarri to Chelsea.

More transfer news from Manchester City:

Lionel Messi agrees to Barcelona stay for next year
Lionel Messi announces that he will stay with Barcelona for the 2020-21 campaign. Read more.

Manchester City 'to make £67m Kalidou Koulibaly bid next week'
Manchester City will submit an offer of €75m (£67m) for Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly next week, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano. Read more.

Lionel Messi's father insists player is allowed to leave Barcelona for free
The Spanish league had stated last weekend that it believed a buyout clause of 700million euros still applied. Read more.