Manchester City have made a £150m bid for the cardboard cut-out of Michail Antonio after admitting defeat in their pursuit of Tottenham striker Harry Kane.
It would be a world record transfer fee for a life-size cardboard cut-out with City boss Pep Guardiola desperate to bolster his squad before the end of the transfer window.
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The move comes after Spurs chairman Daniel Levy rejected City’s final offer of £150m and Scott Carson.
It brings to an end the biggest transfer saga of the summer with Kane resigning himself to Europa Conference League football and claiming own goals for the remainder of his career.
‘Daniel won’t take our calls, texts, emails, faxes or DMs on Insta’, revealed Guardiola to Paddy Power News.
Michail Antonio really celebrated a goal with a full-size cardboard cutout of himself 🤣 pic.twitter.com/KLh1ocAtXU
— GOAL (@goal) August 23, 2021
‘It’s time to move on and switch our attention to other targets, such as this 6ft piece of cardboard’.
‘It’s big, lean and if FFP come knocking on our door, we can just fold it up and put it in a drawer’.
Paddy Power News understands West Ham boss David Moyes is keen to do business and hopes to replace the cardboard cut-out with another large inanimate object, Marouane Fellaini.
‘Aff tae bring the big man back fae china’, Moyes told us, before making a collect call to Shandong.
However, the Citizens face competition for the cut-out’s signature from local rivals Manchester United who are also keen to add to their attacking options.
United scouts were impressed by the cut-out’s performance during West Ham’s 4-1 victory over Leicester after a heat map revealed it moved around the pitch more than Anthony Martial did against Southampton.
‘Cardboardsy is a player we’ve had our eye on since 9pm last night’, United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told PPN.
‘He’ll offer us better movement and a better goal return than Anthony’.
‘And unlike Anthony he doesn’t constantly look as though he’s just smelt a fart’, grinned the Norwegian.
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