Manchester City are set to replace an important first team star with a European Championship winner
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Manchester City are looking to replace one of their key players of Pep Guardiola's reign with a Euros champion, according to reports.
Since taking over in 2016, Guardiola has transformed Manchester City's fortunes with a style of play now used by plenty of clubs across the continent. Playing out from the back has been key to that, helping the side winning six Premier League titles in seven years, a Champions League and multiple FA Cups and League Cups.
One player integral to that success has been Ederson, with his superb ball-playing ability and key saves helping on countless occasions. Reports suggest he could be heading towards the exit door this summer, though, with his replacement already lined up.
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According to Sky Sports Italy, Manchester City will look to replace Ederson with Gianluigi Donnarumma, should the Brazilian leave the club this summer.
Ederson is the subject of interest from Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia, with Manchester City valuing him at £40m. Should they match that fee, then the 30-year-old is expected to depart the Premier League this summer - leaving the door open for the club to tempt Donnarumma away from PSG.
The Euro 2020 winner moved to Paris on a free transfer in 2021, and eventually made the No.1 spot his own after having to share playing responsibilities with Keylor Navas during his first season.
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Donnarumma is on the radar of Man City (Image credit: Getty Images)
With Donnarumma's PSG contract expiring in two years, the report suggests that the Premier League has also interested the Italian, while Pep Guardiola is keen on replacing Ederson before he has even departed the club. The arrival of Matvey Safonov will also place a certain pressure on Luis Enrique, with the Russian having cost around £17m.
Transfermarkt values Donnarumma at £34m, though it will likely take a considerably larger offer to even get PSG to enter into negotiations for the Italian. Manchester City have money to spend, however, having only made one signing in Savinho this summer.
In FourFourTwo's view, it seems slightly farfetched that Manchester City would try and sign Donnarumma when they've got a perfectly capable goalkeeper in Stefan Ortega waiting in the wings should Ederson depart. Donnarumma isn't necessarily the best with his feet, either, throwing question marks over whether he'd fit into Guardiola's style of play.
Ederson has been key to City's success (Image credit: Getty Images)
Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
