Not Anderson or Fernandez! Man City were 'stunned' by €100m top target

Updated: 4 Sept 2026 16:06 BST | 4 min read

Tom Weber | Writer

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Manchester City splashed the cash on new midfielders this summer, but they did not manage to get the player they tried to sign as early as March.

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The Cityzens endured a tumultuous summer brought about by Pep Guardiola's departure after an era-defining decade at the club. Numerous key players followed the Spaniard out the door, and the midfield in particular looks unrecognisable now.

Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Tijjani Reijnders and Nico Gonzalez all left the club and have been replaced with Elliot Anderson, Ayyoub Bouaddi and Enzo Fernandez, who have joined to the tune of €375 million.

Compared

Elliot Anderson

M, DM (C)

Man City

Elliot Anderson

M, DM (C)

Man City

VS

Enzo Fernández

M, DM (C)

Man City

Enzo Fernández

M, DM (C)

Man City

€69.4M	ETV	€83.3M
€52M - €86.7M	ETV Range	€75M - €91.7M
23 years old (06 Nov, 2002)	Age	25 years old (17 Jan, 2001)
England	Nationality	Argentina

The size and cost of Man City's midfield rebuild have been nothing short of remarkable, and new manager Enzo Maresca will be under huge pressure to try and fit all the pieces together.

Once Man City homed in on Anderson, Bouaddi and Fernandez, it seemed inevitable that they would get them. It became clear very early on that the Etihad club were the clear favourites to sign all three - but there was also a high-profile target they failed to acquire.

City snubbed by Pavlovic

According to BILD reporter Christian Falk, City were left "stunned" when they were rejected by Bayern Munich midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic earlier this year.

Speaking on his Bayern Insider podcast, the journalist claims that City made contact with the Germany international as early as March, only to be left disappointed when he made it clear that he wasn't interested in the move.

City would have been willing to pay more than €100m for Pavlovic, who was the club's top midfield target in the spring. The pursuit of the 22-year-old had the approval of Maresca, who was at the time not yet guaranteed to become manager, as Guardiola hadn't yet confirmed his exit.

Pavlovic was born in Munich and still wants to achieve big things with Bayern, such as winning the Champions League, but his rejection of City was not immediate - which is understandable given the money on offer.

He gave himself plenty of time to think it over before informing the Premier League giants of his decision. Falk claims that City did not expect to be rebuffed by the midfielder.

The interest therefore never got to the stage of City making an offer because they realised that there was no point chasing a deal without player buy-in. Bayern knew of the talks but were never worried that he would jump ship.

Falks co-host Julian Agardi then rubbed salt into the wound by claiming that Pavlovic at €100m (or slightly more) would have been a better signing than Bouaddi at €95m. Time will tell if he's got a point.