Premier League champions Man City have offered Juventus mega star and five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo a two-year contract, Italian media outlet Gianlucadimarzio.com said on Thursday.
City's attempts to lure CR7 to Manchester came after their efforts to land Tottenham's talismanic striker Harry Kane at the Etihad this summer failed as the England skipper announced his decision to stay in North London on Wednesday.
Guardiola, who has been a longtime admirer of the Spurs forward, was in hot pursuit of Kane throughout the transfer window, but the 28-year-old striker said that he was committed and focused to win laurels for his boyhood club during the 2021-22 season.
With Kane's arrival at the Etihad stalled for another year, Guardiola's desire to find a like-for-like replacement for their all-time leading goal scorer Sergio Aguero has taken a beating. The Argentine centre-forward joined Barcelona on a free transfer last month.
Currently, Brazilian Gabriel Jesus is the only senior striker at City and Ronaldo's undeniable world class status on the forward line combined with his willingness to depart from Italy seems quite attractive for Guardiola.
After taking Ronaldo's contract situation into account and their urgent requirement for a high profile centre-forward, City are willing to pay Ronaldo $316,000-a-week, and approximately $17 million a year as they look to sign him for two years.
But the five-time English champions are in no mood to pay any kind of transfer fee for the Portugal skipper, Italian press claimed.
On the other hand, Juventus are demanding $35 mln to let the iconic player go. The Old Lady need the money to find CR7's replacement with less than a week to go before the window closes on 31 August.
Juventus have also offered a swap deal to City wherein Jesus would arrive in Italy to play for the Serie A side while Ronaldo would head to England, but Guardiola wasn't excited about the prospect and immediately snubbed the idea.
Last week, Ronaldo, who still has a year left on his Juventus contract, had described the talks regarding his future linking him to City as "frivolous".
He was benched in Juve's last game against Udinese on Sunday and even though Ronaldo came on as a substitute during the final stages of the match, he failed to secure the win for his team as the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) went on to rule his late winner as offside.