Manchester City Transfers: 5 Players They Must Sign

2. Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen)

You know somebody is a special talent when legendary German World Cup winner Lothar Matthias is already tipping them as a future Ballon d'Or winner at the age of just 20.

So impressive has Kai Havertz been since making his Bayer Leverkusen debut in 2017/18, that's exactly the praise that Matthias has placed on the youngster's shoulders.

To give some context to this lofty praise, Havertz bagged an impressive 17 goals from 34 Bundesliga games last season - with the midfielder also nabbing another three goals in the Europa League.

Midfielders with an eye for goal are always going to be in demand, and any talented young German player more often than not ends up in the sights of the mighty Bayern Munich, of course.

What Havertz offers to a team like Manchester City is a young goal-scoring midfielder who is ready to be plugged straight into the first team if called upon. Right now, City simply don't have that sort of player. Sure, they have Phil Foden tipped for greatness, but Foden doesn't offer up the same sort of goal threat as a Kai Havertz does.

How much it would take to prize the German international away from Leverkusen, then? Well, reports earlier this year suggested any acceptable transfer fee would have to be in the £90 million range.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.