Josko Gvardiol admits he nearly quit football when he was playing for Dinamo Zagreb in his homeland as he considered turning his hand to basketball with opportunities at a premium when he was a teenager.

The Croatian is now one of the world's most expensive signings after joining Manchester City for £77million in 2023. Prior to that he'd made his name at RB Leipzig, but only after he'd persevered with the sport following a period of frustration in Zagreb.

Gvardiol was 16 when he was struggling to get game time for Zagreb's youth team and wondered whether to give basketball a try. It is among the most popular sports in Croatia beyond football and a lot of his friends were playing it.

The City defender told the BBC: "I was thinking about quitting because I like basketball as well. I wasn't sure in football any more because when you get to the training ground you don't feel happy any more, you know? I was just trying to find other solutions and to feel happier than I felt before because all of my friends were playing basketball."

Gvardiol's patience was eventually rewarded and when he broke into the senior team Zagreb claimed back-to-back titles. That caught the attention of Leipzig and he eventually moved to the Bundesliga for £16m - a record fee for a Croatian teenager. After two seasons in Germany Pep Guardiola came calling.

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The Croatian's priority was always to become a footballer but he never thought his ascent in the game would take him to the summit of English football. Gvardiol has won the Premier League title in Manchester and is still stunned by his rise.

He admitted: "My dream obviously was to become a professional football player, but I didn't know that I was going to go that far. If you go five years back and ask me, do you see yourself at Manchester City in 2023, '24, '25? I would say no chance, like really impossible."

Gvardiol has become an integral figure under Guardiola and his goalscoring exploits have added another string to his blow. The 23-year-old has scored 11 times in his two seasons and last term playing more than 6,000 minutes for club and country.

The defender played in 55 of City's 61 matches and only missed 140 Premier League minutes throughout the season, but insists he was determined to push through the pain barrier to continue contributing for the team.

He said: "In my head last season I was like, 'no matter what, how I feel, no matter if I am fit or not, I just want to play. I just want to compete to help the team'. I could feel it on my body, especially in the summer. I had a [knee] injury but now it's finally good after six months."

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