Treble winners Manchester City aren’t relaxing. They’ve brought one of the world’s highest-rated talents to the club in Josko Gvardiol (£5.0m), whose £77.5m fee makes him the second-most expensive defender of all time behind Harry Maguire (£4.5m).
New boss Pep Guardiola has already commented on the 21-year-old’s “beautiful surname” and hopes the arrivals of both he and fellow Dinamo Zagreb graduate Mateo Kovacic (£5.0m) can prevent any stagnation occurring in his star-studded squad.
So can ‘The Croatian Wall’ meet such huge hype and what impact will he have in FPL?
We’ll attempt to answer those questions below.
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THE HISTORY
Aged 17, Gvardiol announced himself to Croatian football by scoring in his second Dinamo match. A year later, RB Leipzig paid €19m in advance to secure his services for the following season.
| Season | Team | Division | Starts (subs) | Goals | Assists | Clean sheets |
| 2022/23 | RB Leipzig | Bundesliga | 24 (6) | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| 2021/22 | RB Leipzig | Bundesliga | 28 (1) | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 2020/21 | Dinamo Zagreb | Prva HNL | 21 (4) | 2 | 3 | 12 |
| 2019/20 | Dinamo Zagreb | Prva HNL | 9 (2) | 1 | 0 | 4 |
Even at a club notorious for developing football’s next world stars, Gvardiol quickly became a big player in Germany. Whether used at left-back or as a left-sided centre-back, he established himself as a key component as they won consecutive DFB Pokal cups and reached last season’s Champions League round of 16.
This allowed Guardiola to once again study his near-namesake in person, having already faced RB Leipzig twice in the previous campaign. Although the defender netted in a 1-1 first leg, he had a poor showing at the Etihad Stadium reversal as Man City destroyed them 7-0.
Still, both Guardiola and his scouting team had already decided that Gvardiol was a perfect match for their playing style. Perhaps they were impressed by the way he rose up to head away a beer cup thrown during goal celebrations at Club Brugge.
Another place you might recognise Gvardiol from is the winter World Cup. Forced to wear a face mask after an accidental collision with club team-mate Willi Orban, he was imperious as Croatia received bronze medals.
In fact, his diving header opened the scoring in the third-placed playoff against Morocco.
PLAYING STYLE
Like new team-mate Erling Haaland (£14.0m), there’s a laboratory-made feeling to Gvardiol’s skill set.
He’s a modern-day defender that blends the traditional traits of being strong, good in the air and pacey with some elite passing and ball-carrying abilities.
“Josko has so many qualities – everything you want in a centre-half. He is fast, competitive, combative, strong in the air, impressive in possession of the ball, with strong self-belief and a good character. He is left-footed, too, which offers us good options at the back.” – Man City director of football Txiki Begiristain
A great one-on-one defender, the official Bundesliga website likens him to David Alaba – formerly of Bayern Munich and now at Real Madrid.
“A totally modern centre-back. His defensive skills, like one-on-one and aerial abilities, are amazing. There are centre-backs with those kind of qualities, but the things that make him different from the others and better is the fact that he can play. He wants to play. His playmaking abilities are amazing.
“When he has the ball, it’s not a risk. There’s not a lot of centre-backs in the world right now who want to play like that.” – former Dinamo Zagreb coach Zoran Mamic
Above image from Transfermarkt
Left-footed centre-backs are treated like gold dust these days and Gvardiol has made many appearances both there and on the left, similarly to Nathan Ake (£5.0m).
He’s always looking to break opposition lines with his passing, having the eighth-best accuracy in last season’s Bundesliga (91.1%).
Furthermore, if the correct forward pass hasn’t opened up, he simply runs with the ball instead. With over 23 ball carries per 90, just Dayot Upamecano did better domestically and the only Premier League regulars to do so all play for Man City – Ruben Dias (26.9), Jack Grealish (24.6) and Manuel Akanji (23.7).
In a nutshell, Gvardiol is both a top-drawer defender and a promising playmaker.
HOW JOSKO GVARDIOL FITS INTO PEP ROULETTE
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