Jeremy Monga has completed his transfer to Manchester City, with Arsenal withdrawing from the race over Leicester City’s valuation of the young winger.
Manchester City have announced the signing of Jeremy Monga from Leicester City, with the young winger putting pen to paper on a five-year deal to 2031.
“When I became aware that Manchester City were interested, I knew instantly this was the right choice for me,” Monga said. “For any young footballer, to become part of this amazing club is a dream come true.
“It is a privilege to be here and I’m delighted to have joined.”
Arsenal had also been in for Monga, and the Gunners led the race for a while, but City’s bid blew Arsenal’s out of the water from a financial perspective.
City ended up agreeing to sign Monga for £12.5m and a sell-on clause, with £10m guaranteed and £2.5m of add-on payments. Arsenal had offered £5m.
Whilst it will be disappointing for Arsenal to miss out on their target, the eventual deal is at least twice the price the Gunners had offered, if not much more than that if and when all add-ons and sell-on clauses are activated.
Arsenal were negotiating with Leicester to try and avoid a tribunal, but City ended up paying more than any tribunal fee in the history of English football.
Danny Ings’ move to Liverpool was set by tribunal at £8m, and Rio Ngumoha’s move to Liverpool cost up to £6.8m, but even with all the add-ons, neither reached even the lower end of City’s fee for Monga.
Arsenal evidently hadn’t expected anyone to pay nearly as much as City did, or they would have just taken it to a tribunal in the first place, so it’s understandable they opted to withdraw from the race.
16-year-old Monga made 30 appearances for Championship Leicester in all competitions in 2025/26, scoring one goal and assisting two more.
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