Manchester City have completed their first signing of the close season with a deal worth up to £33.6 million ($43.4m) for the services of Savio.
The Brazil winger signed a five-year contract with the Premier League champions after excelling for Girona in La Liga last season.
Savio's nine goals and 10 assists in Spain's top flight helped the Catalan club to achieve UEFA Champions League qualification for the first time in their history.
Those performances also sealed a place in Brazil's Copa America squad for the 20-year-old, who bagged his first senior international goal in the 4-1 group-stage win over Paraguay.
But given Girona's status as a member of the City Football Group — one of the clubs in which City's ownership body has a stake — how has this transfer been allowed to happen, especially as UEFA recently ruled on multi-club ownership in relation to City and their neighbours Manchester United?
MORE: Girona's best players in 2023/24
UEFA rules on multi-club ownership
On July 5, UEFA cleared City and United to take part in its club competitions next season after reviewing conflicts around the CFG's ownership of City and INEOS' control of football operations at Old Trafford.
European football's governing body does not allow clubs with the same ownership to be involved in the same competitions, which created respective issues for City in relation to Girona and United considering INEOS' stake in French Ligue 1 club Nice, who will join them in the Europa League in 2024/25.
UEFA's Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) said significant changes had been made at Girona and Nice to "substantially restrict investors' influence and decision-making power".
The shares that the City and United ownerships have in Girona and Nice have been transferred through independent trustees to a blind trust that will be supervised by the CFCB. Both Premier League teams have agreed not to transfer players, either permanently or on loan, from July 2024 to September 2025.
This meant United's mooted interest in Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo was left dead in the water. So why is Savio allowed to join City?
Why are Man City allowed to sign Savio?
Quite simply, City could sign Savio because he was not a Girona player.
The Brazilian spent last season on loan in Spain from French club Troyes, who are also part of the CFG but, crucially, do not play in the Champions League.
Contractually, Savio became a Troyes player once again when his loan at Girona expired on June 30. Therefore, his parent club will receive the potential transfer windfall of £33.6m — with the deal broken down into £21m upfront and a further £12.6m in performance-related add-ons, as per the Manchester Evening News.
It will certainly come in handy, given Troyes stand as a stark contrast to Girona's CFG success story. In 2023/24, having dropped down from Ligue 1, they suffered a second successive relegation to France's third tier and fans protested against the CFG's ownership.
Troyes were ultimately spared from relegation after Ajaccio entered administration and were relegated to the Championnat National.
Where will Savio play for Man City?
Riyad Mahrez's move to Saudi Arabia after City's treble-winning campaign of 2022/23 and Cole Palmer's subsequent switch to Chelsea left Pep Guardiola short of specialist right-wing options.
Phil Foden or Bernardo Silva tended to feature on the right flank last season but each prefer to operate more centrally and Kyle Walker was often tasked with providing natural width from right-back.
Guardiola might therefore hope Savio can provide a different option in what has become a problem position in relative terms. He played on the right for Brazil, usually as a substitute, during the Copa America.
Most of Savio's standout La Liga displays for Girona came on the left, but Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish mean City are well stocked on that side of the field. Norway youngster Oscar Bobb is another exciting option on the right for Guardiola and will hope to kick on after making his first-team breakthrough in 2023/24.
Sávio vs Jeremy Doku 23/24 pic.twitter.com/vuwBngdgO8
— Sky Blue Times (@theskybluetimes) July 17, 2024
Man City preseason schedule
City depart for a four-game preseason tour of the United States on Friday, July 19.
However, Savio is not set to feature in any of these games following Guardiola's decision to grant any players who reached the quarterfinals of Euro 2024 exemption from the tour.
Savio's part in Brazil's run to the quarterfinals of the Copa America is similarly set to rule him out, alongside Argentina's Copa-winning forward Julian Alvarez.
The August 10 Community Shield clash with Manchester United is Savio's most likely debut game at this stage. The clash at Wembley is a rematch of May's FA Cup final, which United won 2-1 to deny City the unprecedented feat of becoming the first men's team in England to claim back-to-back domestic doubles.
Man City 2024 preseason fixture schedule
| Date | Opponent | Venue | Kickoff time (ET) |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 23 | Celtic | Kenan Memorial Stadium, Chapel Hill, United States | 7:30 p.m. |
| July 27 | AC Milan | Yankee Stadium, New York, United States | 6:00 p.m. |
| July 30 | Barcelona | Camping World Stadium, Orlando, United States | 7:00 p.m. |
| August 3 | Chelsea | Ohio Stadium, Columbus, United States | 5:30 p.m. |
| August 10 | Manchester United | Wembley Stadium, London, England | 10:00 a.m. |