Manchester City’s goalkeeping conundrum is growing increasingly difficult to deal with everyone at the club, it seems. After throwing out their erstwhile number one, Joe Hart, from the club, manager Pep Guardiola is now willing to see out his last season’s celebrated signing of Claudio Bravo. Reportedly, the Manchester outfit is now weighing up a bid for Napoli goalie Pepe Reina, which by all means indicate the end of Bravo’s career at the Etihad.
If reports are to be believed then Manchester City are planning to table a bid for £2.5 million for the Spanish goalie as an experienced backup for the young Ederson. And it could pretty much lead people to question Guardiola’s ability to recognise talents under the bar. Despite Bravo’s poor displays in the Premier League for City that cost them some crucial points midseason, the Chilean proved his mettle in Chile’s semi-final win over Portugal.
And one would surely ask the former Barcelona manager to give him another chance at Etihad. Same could be said about Joe Hart, who is reportedly closing in on a loan move to London club West Ham United as the World Cup knocks on the door. Claudio Bravo already remains excluded from Manchester City’s pre-season tour to the United States as he rests following their Confederation Cup final defeat to Germany.
However, Guardiola’s decision to bring in Reina could definitely be a season changing one for his dwindling season in England, given the former Liverpool goalie’s experience in top-flight English football previously. The 34-year-old has made a whopping 395 appearances for the Reds over a span of nine seasons, where he won the FA Cup in 2006.
In the Premier League, he has played 250 games coming dangerously close to winning the Premier League title in 2009. It was an eventual dip in form that saw Liverpool selling him off to Napoli following a loan stint. The journey took a detour via Bayern Munich in 2014, which went horribly wrong before the Serie A side made it permanent.
Reina has been brilliant for Napoli last season conceding just 38 goals in 37 games for the side. His experience at the highest level could definitely be advantageous for City on their weekend trips to difficult away venues. However, no side would sell their first team player to City for a meagre £2.5 million, given their popularity to overspend on players and reports claim Napoli want to initiate negotiations from £4.5 million.
Guardiola had to splurge a whopping £34.69 million to bring in young shot stopper Ederson from Benfica, and the team is yet to splash millions to get in reinforcements for the other positions.
