Manchester City are set to waste no time when it comes to adding to their treble wining squad, with a deal to sign Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic reportedly 'on the brink' of being completed.
Pep Guardiola's side completed the treble success last weekend when they beat Inter Milan 1-0 in Istanbul to secure the Champions League, adding it the the Premier League and FA Cup they also won this season.
But City are in no mood to rest on their laurels after the success, and ESPN report that Guardiola's side are on the cusp of completing a £34.2million deal for Chelsea midfielder Kovacic, who is set to end his five-year stay in west London.
Kovacic joined Chelsea on loan from Real Madrid in 2018 before turning that into a permanent £40m switch a year later, and has made 221 appearances for the club, winning the Champions League and Europa League.
The Croatia international is currently in the Netherlands where he helped his country reach the Nations League final on Wednesday night, but he is expected to tie up the move after the final against Spain at the weekend.
The move will represent part of a summer refresh for Guardiola, with City also linked with a move for the West Ham midfielder Declan Rice.
Speaking after the Champions League final, Guardiola said that his squad were now entering a new phase.
“I think the job is done,” he told a Spanish news outlet.
“This Champions League already gives meaning to the five Premier Leagues that we won. But it is also true that we need to go home, disconnect more than a little and knowing all of us, when the adrenaline starts again, we will plug in again."
City's five England players - Jack Grealish, John Stones, Kalvin Phillips, Phil Foden and Kyle Walker - have joined up with the Three Lions after the treble celebrations, and England boss Gareth Southgate hopes they can now focus back on football.
“There is a line but in our head we weren’t thinking of including the City players for this game," said Southgate ahead of Friday's clash with Malta.
“I have spoken with the players. We have talked about where the focus needs to be, where we need them to be and acknowledged what they have experienced and that’s for me to manage.
“It’s a huge occasion and we needed to give those guys the time to take everything in but, point number one, they all wanted to come in to be with the group, which is fantastic.
“I don’t think they would have felt anything unusual about how we have dealt with this and how we have embraced the players back in to the group."
