Josko Gvardiol is likely to join Manchester City after the triple champions agreed a £77 million deal for the RB Leipzig defender.

Manchester City have agreed a price of £77 million (€90 million/$98 million) with RB Leipzig for defender Josko Gvardiol.

City negotiated with Leipzig all summer and ultimately reached an agreement on Tuesday. According to GOAL, the two clubs have agreed on a cost of £77 million, with no performance or success-related add-ons. Gvardiol, 21, is scheduled to undergo his physical at the end of this week, and City hopes to make the signing official by the end of the week or after the Community Shield match against Arsenal on Sunday.

THE BIGGER PICTURE: The move will make Gvardiol the second most expensive defender of all time, with the fee being just shy of the £80m ($101m) Manchester United paid Leicester City for Harry Maguire in 2019 and just above the £75m ($95m) Liverpool paid to sign Virgil van Dijk from Southampton in January 2018.

AND WHAT’S MORE: Gvardiol will join fellow Croatian international Mateo Kovacic at City following the midfielder’s £25m (€29m/$32m) move from Chelsea earlier this summer. The defender was one of the breakout stars of the 2022 World Cup and should fit perfectly into Pep Guardiola’s defence after the Catalan began to move away from having attacking full-backs and began playing central defenders such as Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and John Stones on the flanks.

IN THREE PHOTOS:(C)Getty ImagesManchester City

WHAT NEXT? City face Arsenal in the Community Shield on Sunday then begin their Premier League title defence away to Vincent Kompany’s Burnley on August 11.