Manchester City assistant manager Juan Manuel Lillo during the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final first leg match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester. Picture date: Tuesday April 5, 2022.
Manager banishes Leicester City transfer target as he slams his ‘ambition’
Steven Bergwijn was heavily linked with a transfer to the King Power Stadium during the summer transfer window, but instead completed a £17.6m switch to Saudi Arabia
Steven Bergwijn could have been playing for Leicester City this season. Instead, the Dutch winger has moved to Saudi Arabia, a transfer that’s seen him banished from his national team.
Bergwijn was one of a number attacking players linked to City during the summer, with reports from the Netherlands suggesting only a couple of weeks before the end of the transfer window that the King Power Stadium was the most likely destination for the 26-year-old as he prepared to leave Ajax. However, a move did not materialise, and in fact, Bergwijn needed the later transfer deadline in Saudi Arabia to get his switch, joining Al-Ittihad for £17.6m on Monday.
While many of the game’s most high-profile names have headed to the Middle East over the past couple of years, there remain doubts around the levels of the leagues in the region. That’s a problem when international managers pick their squads.
For example, Ivan Toney, who completed a move to Al-Ahli last week, is not in the England squad for their upcoming Nations League matches, despite doing well in his cameos at the summer’s European Championship. However, he’s not definitively been ruled out of future call-ups.
