Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich are keeping tabs on Stephen Mfuni, but Manchester City have no intention of letting the 18-year-old centre-back become the next academy talent to slip through the net.
According to TEAMtalk, Manchester City are preparing a new long-term contract for the defender, who is spending the season on loan at Coventry City and has started to catch the eye in the Premier League.
City are said to be delighted with the progress he has made under Frank Lampard, and they want to sit down with him about an extension before the interest from Paris and Munich turns into something more serious.
Why are PSG and Bayern watching Stephen Mfuni?
Both clubs are following his performances closely and like his profile and potential. Bayern, now coached by former City captain Vincent Kompany, who returned to the club’s training ground this week, know exactly the kind of defender City’s academy produces.
That is the worry for City. Mfuni’s current deal expires at the end of the season. The club do hold an option to extend it, but the plan is to agree a fresh long-term contract quickly, before suitors start lining up to convince him his future lies elsewhere.
How has the Man City loanee done at Coventry?
Very well, by any measure. Mfuni has played six times for Coventry this season, including three Premier League starts, and he has deputised for Bobby Thomas in the Sky Blues’ last two matches.
He has also scored the first goal of his senior career, a lovely curling effort in the 4-1 win over Newcastle United. On top of that, he has earned a call-up to the England Under-21s.
Lampard has been full of praise. “From the moment we signed him and watched him train and how he is, he’s impressed everybody,” the Coventry boss said. “He’s got this real good lack of fear, good young players have it, they back their talent, they understand. He’s good on the training pitch, he understands where he wants to improve.”
A City lifer from under-9 level
Mfuni is a pure product of the academy. The Wigan-born centre-back joined City at under-9 level and has spent his whole youth career with the club, before a loan at Watford in the second half of last season and this move to newly promoted Coventry.
He is not wearing a City shirt right now, but he is part of the club’s long-term plans, which is exactly why the contract talks matter.
Man City cannot let this one run down
Young players’ deals drifting towards the summer is a familiar story. We wrote recently about another defender whose contract runs out next summer, and nobody wants Mfuni heading the same way with PSG and Bayern circling.
The option in his deal gives City some protection, but a long-term agreement says far more to an 18-year-old who is starting Premier League games. City already have young centre-backs fighting for minutes, as Vitor Reis knows this season, and a defender who has come through every age group and is now proving himself at the top level is exactly the sort City should be tying down.
Get the new deal done now, let him finish the season at Coventry, and then decide whether he is ready for the first team. Waiting only gives Paris and Munich more time to make their pitch.
