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Man City's £64m Ruben Dias transfer confirmed after Pep Guardiola's Leicester humiliation
Manchester City have signed Benfica defender Ruben Dias.
Ruben Dias shows off skills in Portugal training
Manchester City have reached a deal to sign Benfica centre-back Ruben Dias, with Nicolas Otamendi heading the other way. City will pay up to €71.3million [£64m] for the defender, while Benfica will pay €15m [£13.6m] back to them for Otamendi.
City had a defensive nightmare on Sunday as they let Leicester City put five past them at the Etihad.
Pep Guardiola has wanted to sign a new centre-back throughout the summer transfer window, and has finally got his man.
Nathan Ake signed from Bournemouth in a £41m deal, and was given his first home league start on Sunday.
City have always maintained they want to get a world class centre-back to partner Ake, or to start in his place alongside Aymeric Laporte.
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They were linked with Kalidou Koulibaly, but Napoli’s demands proved to be too much.
Instead, they turned their attentions to Dias, with the 23-year-old having made a name for himself at Benfica.
The Portuguese international still had four years to run on his current contract, and City were told to fork out a fee worth £64m to sign him.
After Sunday’s horrific performance against Leicester, however, City chiefs pulled the trigger on the deal.
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In a statement released late on Sunday, Benfica confirmed they had reached an agreement with the Citizens for the double transfer, with Otamendi heading to Portugal.
The Argentine has found himself out of favour under Guardiola, and didn’t appear to have much of a chance of getting back into the first-team picture.
Dias is now set to travel to England to complete his medical and finalise personal terms over the deal.
The 23-year-old played his final game for Benfica on Saturday against Moreirense and scored in the 2-0 win.
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If he signs early this week, there’s a chance he could be involved against next Saturday against Leeds.
Speaking after Sunday’s brutal 5-2 loss against Leicester, Gary Neville urged Guardiola to make changes at the back in order to give City a chance to win back the Premier League title.
He said: "They were so good in the opening 25 minutes but as soon as Leicester broke on them a couple of times, you felt that, psychologically, it just damaged them.
"Some of the wounds from last season are reappearing. The bugs that cost them the title.
“Certainly, you can get at this Manchester City back four a lot quicker that you could previously. They don't seem to react in transition higher up as they did."
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