Reece Oxford linked with £15m move to Manchester City

Reports suggest Blues could move for West Ham youngster

West Ham’s 17 year old prodigy, Reece Oxford, has been the subject of an official enquiry from Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. The transfer looks to be valued at around £15 million and Oxford appears very interested in a move to the North West.

City sent scouts to watch Oxford at the Under-19 European Championships this summer and having kept up to date with the live football scores and daily reports, it's suggested that they were very impressed with what they saw of the young defender. The Citizen’s interest was followed by a formal enquiry on Monday night putting them ahead of Tottenham and Manchester United in the race to sign Oxford.

Bolstering the City defence appears to be Guardiola’s top priority after the departure of Martin Demechelis and Vincent Kompany’s recent injury troubles. There have been never ending links between City and Everton’s John Stones who is believed to be valued at around £50 million. Leonardo Bonucci impressed at Euro 2016 and has also been linked with a move to the Etihad with Oxford touted as a future prospect.

West Ham have already turned down an offer of £10 million for Oxford from Red Bull Leipzig but they will find it difficult to keep the youngster should City offer him a lucrative contract; Oxford is not believed to be a big earner at the club. The Hammers have attempted to negotiate a new deal with Oxford but have yet to make a breakthrough further and Stats, bets and tips suggest a move elsewhere.

Hammers boss Slaven Bilic handed Oxford his debut last season but the Croatian seems powerless to stop Oxford leaving the club. Manchester United and Tottenham have both scouted Oxford but seem a long way behind City who have already made a bid according to reports.

United had made much greater advances in the transfer market than City but, with such a highly rated youngster set to slip through their hands to their closest rivals, it’s very possible the tables could be set to turn. City are also believed to be seeking goalkeeping reinforcement either as competition for or as a replacement for Joe Hart who didn’t make the most of his Euro 2016 campaign.

Prime keeping targets for City are Barcelona duo Claudio Bravo and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen. The Catalan giants would likely be open to letting one of their first team keepers leave to ease the issue of declaring a first choice shot stopper and the strong link Guardiola has with Barcelona could see either join City.

It is believed Guardiola also admires Hector Bellerin but Arsenal will be very unwilling to sell one of their top performers. City have shown concern over their full backs as all their first team choices are over 30; combining this with Pablo Zabaleta and Aleksander Kolarov both looking for a potential move away it causes some very apparent problems.