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Manchester City are playing hardball over the future of Oleksandr Zinchenko, according to the Manchester Evening News.
The 23-year-old is a fringe player at the Etihad with interest in his signature peaking this summer when newly-promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham both bid for the Ukrainian.
With the Premier League clubs offering £19m for Zinchenko, talk of a £10.8m deal seems wishful thinking on the part of the Spanish club. However, City are putting an additional and possibly insurmountable barrier in the path of any transfer.
Betis prefer to take the midfielder on loan for the remainder of this season. City do not object to him leaving the club, but the Cityzens are demanding the Seville-based outfit commit to signing Zinchenko next summer.
After making 14 appearances last season as a stand-in while Benjamin Mendy, 22, and Fabian Delph, 28. However, despite a determination to fight for his place at the Etihad, Zinchenko is further from the starting line-up than before.
Unless Delph moves to Besiktas – which seems unlikely with Pep Guardiola determined the England international will stay at City – Zinchenko is fighting half-a-dozen players for a midfield place.
Despite the lack of options on his part, the club is in no rush to sell with his contract not close to running down.
