Manchester City Reportedly Set to Make £200M January Bid for Kylian Mbappe

Manchester City are reportedly poised to launch a £200 million (€224 million) bid for Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe in January.

According to MailOnline's James Dutton, City boss Pep Guardiola has identified the youngster as a signing who could fire them to success in the UEFA Champions League.

City are set to make the bid after UEFA decided to reopen their investigation into PSG's compliance with financial fair play rules having initially cleared them of breaching regulations back in June.

The Parisians splashed out a world-record £198 million (€222 million) fee on Neymar last year and then spent £165 million (€180 million) this year making Mbappe's loan from Monaco a permanent stay.

It's said the Sky Blues will offer the 19-year-old £20 million (€22.4 million) per year in wages and could fund the move by selling Raheem Sterling.

The Englishman has less than two years remaining on his contract at the Etihad Stadium and is yet to agree new terms.

Sterling has grown into an incisive match-winner under Guardiola, having contributed 37 goals and 41 assists for City in 101 appearances since the manager took charge in 2016.

Mbappe is a singular talent, though, and he has bagged 26 goals and 16 assists in just 49 games for PSG, as well as scoring four goals at the FIFA World Cup including a 25-yard strike in the final.

PSG shared some of his highlights from August after he was named Ligue 1's Player of the Month:

He's already had an impressive impact in the Champions League, too:

As good as Sterling has been for City—and he can still get better given he's still young at 23—Mbappe seems destined to become one of the world's best and could take on the mantle of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

City are one of a very small number of sides who could perhaps afford to sign him, too, but unless PSG are forced to sell him, it's difficult to imagine they'd part with him even for the fee reported.

PSG have their own hope of Mbappe leading them to Champions League glory and they won't give it up easily.