Manchester City secure £44m deal for Atletico Madrid defender

Manchester City will sign Atletico Madrid defender Lucas Hernandez in a £44m deal at the end of next season, reports Cadena COPE.

Pep Guardiola’s side would have signed the Atletico defender this summer had Diego Simeone’s side not failed in their attempts to overturn a FIFA-imposed transfer ban meaning they will not be able to register new players until January 2018.

The City head coach was interested in bringing Hernandez to the Eithad 12 months ago but will now have to wait another year before he can work with the highly-rated defender, who is the brother of Real Madrid-bound Theo Hernandez.

City have already signed Monaco creative midfielder Bernardo Silva and are poised to announce the arrival of Ederson from Benfica in a British-record fee for a goalkeeper, while Guardiola’s side are understood to also be in advanced talks to land highly-rated Monaco defender Benjamin Mendy.

The 21-year-old only managed 13 league starts for Atletico this season and was briefly involved in an unsavoury police incident after being accused on assault by his girlfriend back in February. However, the France Under-21 international has the ability to play right the way across the back four and his versatility obviously appeals to a manger like Guardiola who likes his players to be multi-functional.

For more stats on Lucas Hernandez, click here to visit his WhoScored player page