Manchester City close to stealing Barcelona's star goalkeeper

FC Barcelona have begun the 'goalkeeper operation' following Marc-André Ter Stegen's serious injury. The Catalans want to find a medium-term replacement for the German, and one of the sporting management's favourites was Diogo Costa, star goalkeeper for Porto and the Portuguese national team, who the Blaugranas have been following for some time.

However, his signing is close to being ruled out by Barça due to a couple of factors. The first of them, the high cost of his transfer, since the Portuguese is valued at 45 million euros and his termination clause is around 75 million. In addition, Manchester City have interfered in the 'bidding' for his signing and are willing to 'throw the house out the window' to secure his services.

City looking for Ederson's replacement

According to what was reported in 'Caughtoffside', also confirmed by Portugal, the Mancunians have already made a move to advance the operation. Ederson's contract expires in 2026, so the club's idea is to let him go next summer to make money, with Saudi Arabia willing to pay a significant amount for his signing, and to incorporate the Porto star for the following season.

Both goalkeepers are represented by Jorge Mendes, who would look favorably on this transaction. However, the main obstacle would be the price of Costa, since the 'skyblue' would only be willing to pay about 40 million euros for his transfer, a figure far from the 75 million euros of his release clause but which the dragons could accept, thus leaving Barça with no options on the 25-year-old goalkeeper.