New Manchester City boss Pep Guaridola has turned his sights to his former club FC Barcelona, as he looks to bring goalkeeper Claudio Bravo to the Etihad Stadium.
After a disappointing season under Manuel Pellegrini, the Manchester City backroom decided it was time for change and roped in one of the most tactical managers in the world — Pep Guardiola. The manager who has tasted success with both his previous clubs, now has a major task in hand, as he is in the hunt for the Premier League title. He took his first step in that direction by signing Ilkay Gundogan from Borussia Dortmund, and has now made Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo his number one transfer target.
As reported by Daniel Lewis of Sports Mole (h/t HITC), Guardiola is desperate to bring in a new keeper to pile the pressure on current number 1 Joe Hart, as the Englishman looked shaky at Euro 2016 and leaked in a number of goals. Bravo, who has impressed in his two seasons at the home of the Catalan giants, may well usurp Hart to become City’s top shot-stopper.
Is Claudio Bravo an upgrade on Joe Hart?
In the graphic given above, Claudio Bravo trumps Joe Hart in almost all categories. The Barca goalkeeper has conceded 14 goals fewer than the English shot-stopper, and also edges him when clean sheets are to be considered. Bravo also seems to be the more agile and wary of the two, making a marvelous 3.4 saves per goal to Hart’s 1.91. Even while passing the ball to his teammates, the Chilean has an astounding accuracy of 86 per cent, while the City goalkeeper is rather careless with his distribution, conceding possession 41 per cent of the time.
While Bravo is a safer bet than the current goalkeeper, certain doubts still remain about his City move. For starters, he’s aged 33 and will not be getting any younger. So rather than bringing in a senior goalkeeper, Guardiola might target one of the younger stoppers on the block. Also, as stated by the Sun, the Chilean has a colossal release clause of £68 million, and it would make absolutely no sense for the Citizens to pay that amount of money for him.
