Man City close in on Barcelona goalkeeper

Manchester City are set to complete the signing of Claudio Bravo from FC Barcelona for a fee in the region of €20 million, according to reports in Spain.

Spanish daily sports newspaper Sport is reporting that Manchester City are on the verge of sealing a deal to sign Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo from FC Barcelona for a fee of €20 million, with the 32-year-old set to fly to Manchester on Thursday this week to tie up the deal.

New City boss Pep Guardiola is known to be in the market for a top calss goal keeper as he does not see Joe Hart fitting into his system.

Guardiola dropped Hart from the starting eleven which beat Sunderland 2-1 in City’s opening Premier League game of the season at the Etihad last Saturday.

It is believed that Hart’s lack of distribution skills, as well as his perceived inability to play the sweeper-keeper role behind a high defensive line are the key reasons behind Guardiola’s decision.

City were reportedly interested in signing 24-year-old German goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen from Barça, but the Catalan side are unwilling to sell as they intend to make the former Borussia Monchengladback player their first choice keeper when he returns from injury.

So City have instead turned to focus on Claudio Bravo, who has been the number 1 at the Camp Nou for the last two seasons, but now faces the prospect of being second fiddle to ter Stegen.

Barça are already lining up a replacement for Bravo in Valencia’s Diego Alves.