Manchester City Eye Ibo Maza as Midfield Replacement
Manchester City know this terrain well. When they go shopping in the Bundesliga, they tend to come back with centrepieces, not souvenirs.
Josko Gvardiol from RB Leipzig for €90 million in 2023. Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund the year before. Now, with Bernardo Silva on his way out and a sizeable creative void opening in midfield, City’s gaze has turned towards Leverkusen and one of the league’s sharpest new playmakers: Ibo Maza.
A familiar route to a new target
City may already have a small edge. Maza is represented by the same agency that handled Omar Marmoush’s move from Eintracht Frankfurt to the Skyblues in early 2025. That relationship has been tested under pressure and delivered once before.
The need in Manchester is obvious. Bernardo Silva, a fixture since 2017 and a key cog in Guardiola’s positional play, will not renew his expiring contract. Losing that blend of vision, work rate and versatility leaves a gap that cannot be patched with a squad player. It demands a new centrepiece, someone who can live inside tight spaces and still make the game breathe.
Maza has done exactly that for Leverkusen.
Signed last summer from second-tier Hertha BSC for €12 million, he arrived as a promising talent. He has become non-negotiable. The attacking midfielder forced his way into the first team, kept his place, and is now one of the pillars of Xabi Alonso’s structure.
Five goals, six assists, 38 appearances. The numbers tell only part of it. The more important detail is that Leverkusen now build around him.
Leverkusen dig in
Bayer moved early to protect their asset. Maza is under contract until 2030, and the message from the Rhineland has been clear: he is not on the market in any conventional sense.
Sporting director Simon Rolfes underlined that stance publicly in mid-March on Sport1’s “Doppelpass” when asked about a possible return for Julian Brandt, who is set to leave Dortmund on a free this summer. Rolfes shut the door.
“We have a superb player in that position in Ibo Maza, who will develop excellently over the coming years. For that reason, Julian will not be on our radar.”
That is not a throwaway line. It is a statement of hierarchy inside the squad. Maza is the present and the plan.
Leverkusen know, though, that interest is building. AC Milan and Atlético Madrid have both been linked in recent weeks. The stance from Bayer’s offices is simple: only a bid that hits their €45 million valuation will even start a conversation. Anything less is noise.
A World Cup shop window
The timing could not be more delicate. Maza’s value is already climbing, and this summer it could spike.
Born in Berlin, he came through the DFB system, playing for Germany from U18 to U20 level. The technical schooling is unmistakable in his game. Yet his international future lies elsewhere. With an Algerian father and Vietnamese mother, Maza chose the Algerian Football Federation and made his senior debut for Algeria in October 2024.
He then carried that decision into the Africa Cup of Nations, where strong performances pushed him into the spotlight as one of Algeria’s new standard-bearers. Now comes the real stage: the World Cup.
Algeria have drawn a brutal group: defending champions Argentina, Austria and Jordan. It is a path lined with risk, but also with opportunity. Every touch against Argentina, every surge through midfield, will be watched by sporting directors and recruitment analysts across Europe.
If Maza shines there, that €45 million line in the sand may start to look conservative.
City’s midfield question
For City, the equation is straightforward and urgent. Guardiola has lost Ilkay Gündogan, is about to lose Bernardo Silva, and needs a fresh creative hub to keep his positional play at full throttle. Maza offers a profile that fits: press-resistant, attack-minded, comfortable between the lines, with a growing record of end product.
The agency connection that smoothed Marmoush’s move gives City a channel. Their recent success in prising away Bundesliga talent gives them confidence. Their financial power gives them options.
What they do not have is time. Every strong performance from Maza in Leverkusen colours or in Algeria’s green raises the stakes. Milan are watching. Atlético are watching. Bayer are holding firm.
The next few months will decide whether Maza remains the heartbeat of Leverkusen’s project in the Rhineland, or becomes the next Bundesliga jewel to board a flight to Manchester.
