Manchester City scout opens up on process of monitoring and signing Josko Gvardiol

One Manchester City scout has revealed star defender and Croatia international Josko Gvardiol was on his own personal radar long before he became a household name.

The versatile central defender, who has often starred in the left-sided full-back position, signed for City back in the summer of 2023 from RB Leipzig for a reported £77 million after his meteoric rise in the years prior.

At just 15-years-old, the Croatian-born star was already a name whispered through scouting circles whilst playing for Dinamo Zagreb, but grabbed the attentions of the wider game in German football.

Manchester City scout Milan Holub has now revealed during a new conversation with SportKlub that he first came across Gvardiol’s profile while he was starring in the Croatian game.

“Everyone has known about Joško since he was 15 or 16 years old,” said Holub, as translated and relayed by CroatianFooty. “I first saw him, well, maybe the first time was when he played for Dinamo [Zagreb].”

Holub continued, “I definitely saw him when he played for the Croatian Under-17 national team in Denmark against England. But what I see, everyone else in the world sees too. All the big clubs have similar scouting systems.”

Josko Gvardiol first joined Dinamo Zagreb at the age of eight, spending a decade at the club before signing for RB Leipzig in 2020, where he remained for two seasons and making 87 appearances for the German side while winning the German Cup in both seasons.

At the age of 19 years, 4 months and 21 days, he went on to become the youngest player to ever play for Croatia at a major tournament – doing so at the 2020 European Championships – surpassing now-fellow Manchester City teammate Mateo Kovacic.

At the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Josko Gvardiol was a key part in Croatia’s run that saw them finish third, and was a firm favourite to win the FIFA Young Player Award but ultimately lost out to Enzo Fernandez.

Gvardiol was a man in demand in the summer of 2023, but it was the Treble winners at the time who acted quickest to snap the stalwart defender up, where he would go on to be seen as one of the world’s best in his position.