Croatian duo at the centre of Manchester City and Manchester United transfer battle

Manchester’s football heavyweights are on a transfer collision course over their respective pursuits of two of Croatian football’s finest up and coming stars.

It is the latest attempt from Manchester City to remain ahead of the pack when it comes to recruiting the game’s next best talents, having achieved significant success from South America in particular over the last few seasons.

The City Football Group portfolio enables Manchester City to bide their time with young prospects, recruiting them into one of their sister clubs before progressing their skillset with the end aim of integrating them into the Etihad Stadium first-team squad.

The finest example to date of such a mission has been seen through Brazil international Savinho, who was originally signed by ESTAC Troyes before taking on loan deals with PSV and Girona, before being signed by Manchester City for a fee in the region of £31 million.

However, while South America has brought significant success to Manchester City through transfer deals, it seems as though their latest strategy and pursuit has drawn them to Croatian football.

According to the information of TBR Football’s Graeme Bailey, both Manchester City and Manchester United are amongst a host of sides ‘doing their homework’ on rising Croatian talents, Petar Sucic (21) and Martin Baturina (21).

The latter is also said to be on the radar of both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid amid comparisons to Luka Modric, whilst Sucic – a deeper-lying playmaker – was reportedly watched by a number of German clubs over the summer including Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig.

The report also states that all of Benfica, Sporting CP and FC Porto have watched the duo in recent months, whilst City and United are also joined by Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham, Newcastle, Brighton and Brentford in spending time in Croatia this year.

Thankfully for Dinamo Zagreb, both players remain under contract with the Croatian giants until the summer of 2028, and as such any potential suitor would have to sanction a significant fee to prize them away from the club.

Manchester City have an exceptional recent history when it comes to Croatian talents, with Josko Gvardiol excelling under Pep Guardiola since joining from RB Leipzig in the summer of 2023 in a deal understood to be worth close to £80 million.

Etihad officials are also awaiting the arrival of another young talent as Claudio Echeverri prepares to embark on life in England after completing a loan deal with River Plate at the end of the year, having reached an agreement to join the Premier League champions last January.