Manchester City and RB Leipzig have agreed a deal of £77 million for defender Josko Gvardiol

The fee for the 21-year-old does not include any add-ons, therefore Manchester United’s £80 million fee for Harry Maguire from Leicester City in 2019 remains the British record for a defender.

In the 87 games he has appeared for Leipzig since joining from Dynamo Zagreb in 2021, he has been a crucial player.

Gvardiol is anticipated to fly to England for a physical later this week.

Last week, Leipzig claimed that they would not sell for less than €100 million (£86 million).

Manager Pep Guardiola believes Gvardiol will bolster the left side of his central defence, and with Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, and Nathan Ake also capable of filling that position, his presence may cast doubt on Aymeric Laporte’s future at Etihad Stadium.

Gvardiol, who can also play left back, becomes City’s second major acquisition of the summer, following the £25 million arrival of fellow Croatian Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea in June.

Kovacic will effectively replace Ilkay Gundogan in City’s midfield after the club’s captain left on a free transfer to join Barcelona, while winger Riyad Mahrez joined Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli last week in a £30 million deal.

Gvardiol, who has two goals in 21 Croatian games, helped his team finish third at the 2022 World Cup and runners-up to Spain in this year’s Nations League.

Before joining the Bundesliga, he won back-to-back titles with Zagreb, finishing with a league and cup double.

Leipzig also qualified for the Champions League twice during Gvardiol’s stint in Germany, finishing fourth and third in the Bundesliga.

The team to which he was sold was virtually knocked out of the Champions League twice in the previous two seasons by the club to which he has now moved.

In 2021-22, Leipzig finished third in a group dominated by City and lost 8-1 over two legs in the round of 16 last season, including a 7-0 defeat at the Etihad.

City has signed one of Europe’s most highly rated young defenders.

They are quietly thrilled that, given differing exchange rates and inflation, he has ended up costing less than Harry Maguire and, in their opinion, Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk.

They did not pay the 100 million euros requested by RB Leipzig, but they did meet the Bundesliga club’s demand to complete the transaction as soon as possible.

Aymeric Laporte will be fired as a result of the action.

But, as with Jack Grealish and Kalvin Phillips in the last two seasons, would a big-money move be followed by an unexpected amount of bench time?

After all, City already has superb central defenders who are familiar with Pep Guardiola’s inverted full-back strategy.

It undoubtedly sends a message that the Treble winners are not resting on their laurels.