Manchester City Transfer News: Alex Grimaldo Reportedly Scouted by Pep Guardiola

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reportedly paid a personal visit to Benfica’s clash with Braga on Monday to run the rule over left-back Alex Grimaldo. 

According to Stuart Brennan of the Manchester Evening News, Guardiola was at the clash in Portugal’s top flight with his brother, Pere. Grimaldo is a player the City boss will know well, having emerged through the youth system at Barcelona. However, he failed to progress from Barcelona B to the senior side and signed for Benfica in January.

As we can see, courtesy of football journalist Tom Kundert, the Portuguese press have picked up on Guardiola’s trip to Iberia, too:

Grimaldo had an excellent reputation at Barca B and captained the side on many occasions. Indeed, it was surprising to many he didn’t eventually make the step up.

The decision to move on the 21-year-old has been to Benfica’s benefit, though. As we can see here, Grimaldo has settled in well at the Estadio da Luz:

The player will be hopeful that he can still make it with one of European football’s juggernauts in the future. Plenty of players come out of the Barca academy to pursue first-team opportunities elsewhere before eventually going on to establish themselves at the highest level.

Grimaldo is a player you’d back to do that. He’s a strong character, a hard worker and a fine player, able to operate anywhere on the left flank. The Benfica man has slotted in tremendously in the left-back spot in Lisbon, offering both an effective attacking presence and plenty of energy in defence.

ESPN’s Simon Curtis has tracked the youngster’s progress and feels as though he’s set for a pretty rapid progression. He also believes Guardiola will be well up to date on his development:

As noted by Brennan, Benfica are under no pressure to sell, with a release clause inserted into his contract of £51 million. According to Sport Witness, Barcelona are also due a portion of any fee the Portuguese side receive for the full-back.

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He’d be an interesting option for City in an area they could definitely upgrade. Neither Gael Clichy nor Aleksandar Kolarov have been totally convincing in the left-back slot as of late, with the latter recently doing a fine job filling in at centre-back. 

However, the Spain youth international needs games and consistency. That’s something he’s finally getting at Benfica, and already improvements are being made in his playing style.

Making a switch to City, where he’d face a fight for minutes and another change of scenery, might not be the right move if he wants to continue this recent steady development.