Manchester City are reportedly prepared to do whatever it takes to sign Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz next summer.
The Premier League champions are seemingly drawing up contingency plans for Kevin De Bruyne's potential departure in 2025.
De Bruyne is facing an uncertain future at the Etihad Stadium, with his contract set to expire at the end of the current season.
Al-Nassr forward Cristiano Ronaldo has supposedly made a plea for the Saudi Arabian side to make a considerable effort to sign De Bruyne next summer.
As it stands, it is currently unclear whether De Bruyne will extend his stay with Man City or seek a fresh challenge elsewhere.
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Man City to step up Wirtz pursuit
With uncertainty surrounding De Bruyne's future, Man City have seemingly identified Wirtz as a potential replacement for the Belgium international.
According to Sky Deutschland, Man City will go all out to prise the Leverkusen star away from the BayArena ahead of the 2025-26 season.
The report claims that the Citizens will face intense competition from German giants Bayern Munich, who have already held discussions with the player's representatives.
There is a belief that Wirtz's preference is to join Bayern before completing a move away from Germany later in his career.
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Who else is interested in Wirtz?
While Bayern may be Man City's biggest rival for Wirtz, there are a number of other clubs who are interested in signing the Germany international.
Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid are all showing an interest in Wirtz ahead of next summer's transfer window.
Despite the transfer speculation, Leverkusen still want to extend Wirtz's current contract beyond its current expiry date of June 2027.
However, if they were to part ways with Wirtz, the Bundesliga champions would rather sell to an overseas club than their domestic rivals Bayern.
There is a belief that Leverkusen will demand at least €90m (£75m) to €100m (£83m) to sanction the playmaker's departure in 2025.
![Germany's Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz celebrate the team's first goal on June 14, 2024 [IMAGO]](https://sm.imgix.net/11/29/1x1.gif?w=1&h=1 "Germany's Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz celebrate the team's first goal on June 14, 2024 [IMAGO]")
