JEEPERS KEEPERS
Pep will sign new goalie in summer after Bravo gaffes
MANCHESTER CITY will be in the market for a new goalkeeper this summer as the pressure grows on under-fire Claudio Bravo.
The Chile international was beaten by all four shots he faced at Everton on Sunday when City’s title hopes were dealt a hammer blow in Pep Guardiola’s worst ever league defeat as a coach.
Bravo has been criticised for his performances since signing from Barcelona for £15.4million in August following Guardiola’s surprise decision to offload Joe Hart.
With second-choice keeper Willy Caballero expected to leave when his contract runs out at the end of the season, City must decide whether to sign another understudy for Bravo or bring in a new No 1 ahead of him.
The club have a £ 13.2m buyback option
on Geronimo rulli, the 24-year-old Argentine who joined City for £4m last summer but was sold to real Sociedad after a loan spell at the Spanish club. They have also been monitoring Benfica’s Ederson and Sunderland’s England Under 21 international Jordan Pickford. It is understood that Barcelona’s other keeper, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, was Guardiola’s first choice before he signed Bravo from his old club. The Chilean was brought to the Etihad for his distribution skills but has come under fire for his shotstopping ability. From the last 22 shots he has faced, Bravo has conceded 14 goals. Sportsmail columnist Jamie Carragher said on Sky last night: ‘They’ve got a goalkeeper nowhere near good enough. Pep Guardiola and that club need to be looking for another goalkeeper for next season, or bring Joe Hart back, because if Pep wants to win the Champions League or the League, you won’t win it with that goalkeeper.’
England goalkeeper Hart, who is under contract at City until 2019, will return in the summer from his seasonlong loan at Torino but is unlikely to have any future under Guardiola.
City will be looking to strengthen in a number of other positions this summer, with up to six new signings.
Guardiola will bring in at least one centre back and City are linked with Southampton duo Virgil van Dijk and Jose Fonte, as well as Athletic Bilbao’s Aymeric Laporte.
City are also expected to sign two full backs, although they accept that Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is unlikely to entertain offers for Kyle Walker and Danny rose.
A striker and midfielder will also be on Guardiola’s shopping list as he looks to overhaul his squad. City trail leaders Chelsea by 10 points following the 4-0 defeat at Goodison Park, after which Guardiola all but conceded that the title has gone.