Transfer Rumour: Pep Guardiola eyes Benfica's highly-rated Ederson Moraes to replace Claudio Bravo
According to rumours, Pep Guardiola is already in the market looking for a replacement for Manchester City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo after the Chilean’s failure to adapt to the Premier League. Reports in Portugal suggest that the Manchester City manager has narrowed his vision down to Benfica’s young goalkeeper Ederson Moraes, who has been impressive for the Portuguese club.
City will face tough competition from Guardiola’s former club Barcelona who have also been monitoring the young player. Reports say that City had even tabled a £19 m bid for the 23-year-old keeper back in May. Guardiola had been impressed by Moraes when his former club Bayern Munich matched up against Benfica in the Champions League.
The Brazilian youngster moved to Benfica from Rio Ave in 2015 and has made 13 appearances for the Portuguese club this season. The keeper is also part of the Brazil U-23 set-up and has caught the eye with several superb performances.
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Manchester City’s No.1 hasn’t impressed
Bravo was bought from Barcelona to replace English goalkeeper Joe Hart who was not a part of Guardiola’s plans when he joined Manchester City this season. It was assumed that Bravo would integrate fully into the former Barcelona manager’s style of football and as a result, Hart was let go on loan.
Bravo has been hailed for his distribution skills and it was no surprise when the Manchester City manager went for the player, since his teams build up gameplay right from the back. Even though the City faithful were unhappy to see their No. 1 keeper go, most fans thought that this would only be a big positive in the larger scheme of things.
However, the Chilean has only put in unconvincing performances so far and has had a torrid time adjusting to football in England and has been shaky since his debut against Manchester United. A big part of this is due to the failings of the Manchester City backline who have not given Bravo the kind of protection he would have wanted.
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Since joining City, the Chilean has already been sent off once and conceded 5 goals in the last 6 shots on target - a stat that clearly shows how poor the goalkeeper’s shot stopping has been. It also looks like the keeper has not been his best decision-making wise which looks quite off.
Against Leicester City, the player was rounded twice by striker Jamie Vardy who literally ran rings around him.
Guardiola will have to decide quickly on the action he wants to take when it comes to the goalkeeping department, whether it would be wise to bring back Joe Hart from loan or to bring the young goalkeeper from Benfica.