Barcelona keeper Claudio Bravo is close to completing a move to Manchester City as the two clubs have reportedly agreed a deal for him.
Pep Guardiola’s appointment as Manchester Cityboss has seen him bring about meteoric changes at the Etihad Stadium. In the league opener against Sunderland, he decided to leave out the club’s long-serving number one goalkeeper Joe Hart and opted to pick second-choice keeper Willy Caballero. The trend continued as the Spaniard left the England shot-stopper out for the second game running when the Citizens traveled to Bucharest for their UEFA Champions League qualifier.
Before City’s game against Stoke City on Saturday, Guardiola addressed the press by stating that Hart could leave if he wanted to. When asked about the English goalkeeper’s future, Pep said:
“I don’t want players to stay if they don’t want. If they want to stay, stay and we will fight together.
“The first thing I am looking for from the goalkeeper is to save. After that he has to be able to play with the ball. He has to be help us to create a good build-up. That is why I am here.
“We are not an academy with time. Here we have time – but not too much. The big teams don’t give me time to create something. People want results immediately.”
Guardiola has not taken too much time in lining up a replacement as Barca keeper Claudio Bravo looks set to be headed to the Etihad this summer. According to the BBC, the two clubs have agreed a deal for the Chilean keeper who will leaving the Spanish club after spending two decorated seasons at the Camp Nou. It is understood that the English side will be shelling out a sum of £17 million for Bravo.
Speaking about the potential transfer on the cards, Barcelona’s technical secretary Robert Fernandez said: “We are awaiting events this week. When Claudio leaves, we hope to have a new keeper.”
During his two seasons at the Catalan giants, Bravo emerged as the club number one ahead of German keeper Marc Andre ter-Stegen. Out of a total of 76 league games over the course of two seasons, the Chile international played in all but nine matches. He is a decent handler of the ball and would also be an ideal ball-playing keeper for Pep Guardiola. Also, given his relatively average age for a goalkeeper (33), Bravo can be City’s goalkeeper for quite a few seasons to come.
