Manchester City tipped to sign Napoli superstar forward in ‘best solution’ for winger

Premier League champions Manchester City have been tipped to sign Napoli and Georgia international, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia by the player’s former coach.

The Napoli star is understood to have been watched closely by Manchester City scouts over the past year, and excelled in various outings for his national team at the ongoing European Championships in a memorable campaign for Georgia.

Scoring a memorable strike in a 2-0 win over Portugal in the group stage of the tournament, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia went on to reach the last-16 at Euro 2024 and despite taking the lead against Spain, the finalists’ quality would ultimately prove too strong.

But following remarkable rise with the Naples club, and promising outings with the Georgian national team, a number of clubs from across the European game are likely to be eyeing the possibility of recruiting Kvaratskhelia in the near future.

Speaking to Football Transfers this week on the future of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Dinamo Batumi technical coach, Gela Davitadze – who coached the winger at Batumi – has tipped the 23-year-old to join Manchester City and feels he would be very well-suited to the club.

“My big respect for Napoli. But I think he wants to move. For this situation, if he goes to the Premier League, it would be the best solution for him. A team like Manchester City or Arsenal would be very suitable,” Davitadze admitted.

“Aside from the Premier League, I think Barcelona would also be a suitable destination for him. But I want him to join the Premier League and watch him play against the best teams.”

Despite pointing towards other clubs aside from the Premier League champions, Gela Davitadze believes that Manchester City would be the best-suited club stylistically for the winger, largely due to Pep Guardiola’s coaching and tactical outlook.

“Manchester City’s style is suitable for Khvicha,” he continued. “City play amazing football with Pep Guardiola and I think in City, Khvicha would be one of the best players. I know City have very good players in this position like (Jack) Grealish and (Jeremy) Doku, I respect them but I think he could be even better and he could give even more.

“For example, if City had Khvicha against Real Madrid in the Champions League I think they would have been able to beat them because he has various dribbling skills and he is not a one-dimension player – and he can dribble against any opponent.”

And Kvaratskhelia could follow in the footsteps of a Georgian football icon by joining Manchester City, as it is pointed out, “I think Khvicha would be the best solution for City. Georgi Kinkladze was a genius at Manchester City.”

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was understood to have been earmarked as a potential transfer option for Manchester City last summer, but a deal proved to be ‘hugely unlikely’ at any stage due to Napoli’s reluctance to sell and eyeing a €150 million fee.

City ultimately moved ahead with a deal for Stade Rennais’ Jeremy Doku, with the Belgium international going on to be a major hit amongst Etihad Stadium supporters for his speedy style of play and boldness in taking on defenders.

With Manchester City officials still open to the idea of recruiting in wide positions, despite the signing of Brazil international Savio this summer, it remains to be seen whether Kvaratskhelia could reemerge as a candidate for the club.