Real Madrid to go after Brahim; Guardiola reacts: "He's the one to decide..."
Manchester City's Spain international will be out of contract in the summer and according to the UK press, Real Madrid are ready to snap him up.
Pep Guardiola's Machester City fear they could lose one of the most exciting promises to have emerged from their youth academy - Brahim Díaz. The Spain youth international will be out of contract in the summer and according to UK papers inclusing The Times and Telegraph, Real Madrid would be very interested in taking the player back to Spain.
Two goals in the EFL Cup
Brahim hit the headlines in the sports press this week after hitting a brace in City's 2-0 win over Fulham to put Guardiola's team into the EFL Carabao Cup quarter finals. The manager spoke after the game about the 19-year-old's future: "Brahim knows what we want for all of our young players. We want to protect them, help them... that goes for him all of the players in the academy. We want him but it doesn’t depend on us, it is the agent, him, family - they decide".
Competition for places
A product of Málaga's youth system, Brahim arrived in Manchester in 2013 after turning down an offer from Barcelona to join their La Masía youth academy. After several years with City, the player decided to stay with the English club at the start of this season but opportunities have proved few and far between and that could force him to seek playing time elsewhere. Guardiola admitted that he is aware of Brahim's frustration: "As far as we are concerned, he's a very good player - that's our opinion of him. But in the end, he's competing with Sterling, Sané, Mahrez, Bernardo... it's difficult to get minutes and he's known that since the start of the season but he wanted to stay. We're delighhted to have him with us. We'll do everything we can to ensure he stays with us... but he'll be the one to decide".
