Diogo Costa: Superb footage of Man Utd target in action as he makes CL history | OneFootball

Diogo Costa might just be the future of Manchester United.

No, not Diego Costa of Wolverhampton Wanderers, but rather Porto’s number one goalkeeper who seems to have all the attributes required to become David de Gea’s long-term replacement under Erik ten Hag.

While De Gea has undoubtedly been a great servant for the Old Trafford club with a remarkable tally of four Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year awards, there’s a quiet acknowledgement that the Spaniard hasn’t been quite the same for a few seasons now.

The 31-year-old might only ever be a few games away from producing a shot-stopping masterclass, but his distribution limitations really make you wonder whether he's truly the right base from which to build Ten Hag's brand of football in the long run.

Do Man Utd want to sign Costa?

Enter Costa, because there's good reason to believe that the Portugal international could have a similar impact at the 'Theatre of Dreams' as Alisson Becker and Ederson did at Liverpool and Manchester City respectively.

As recently as October 1, Sport Witness carried a report from Portuguese outlet A Bola claiming that the Red Devils were scouting Costa, as well as David Carmo, during Porto's 4-1 win over Braga.

Marry that to several other reports of varying reliability linking Costa to Old Trafford and it's fair to say that, if nothing else, the links are far more legitimate than just fans crossing their fingers online.

Costa's incredible performance vs Bayer Leverkusen

As such, it should come as no surprise to learn that there were a very many excited United supporters when they saw exactly how Costa performed during the Champions League triumph at Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday night.

After all, to say that it was the perfect advertisement for why he's the future for United would be the mother of all understatements.

It was, in short, the dream goalkeeping performance with Costa not only keeping a clean sheet at the BayArena, but also becoming the first shot-stopper in Champions League history to register an assist and penalty save in the same game.

And the pass for Galeno's opener in Germany was particularly illustrative of his value to United because it saw the 23-year-old produce a truly gorgeous delivery from one end of the pitch to the other.

So, United fans, be sure to get excited about one of the world's leading young goalkeepers potentially heading your way by checking out his assist and individual highlights against Bayer Leverkusen down below:

Video: Costa's superb assist for Porto's opening goal

He's got all the hallmarks of a 'complete' goalkeeper, hasn't he?

Even Iker Casillas impressed with the up and coming Portugal star, penning on Twitter: "This guy is going to be a phenomenon!! Great !!"

The future of Man Utd

While you can only ever extrapolate so much about a player from a singular performance, Costa's output on Wednesday was - by all accounts - emblematic of exactly the qualities that make him such an exciting talent.

According to FBref, Costa ranks highly for touches, percentage of passes launched and defensive actions outside of his penalty area when compared to other goalkeepers over the past year.

In other words, the heir to Rui Patricio's throne with the Portugal national team is a man more than comfortable marauding off his goal-line as a sweeper keeper with a penchant for picking out long balls forward.

And per the Manchester Evening News, it's believed that his release clause at the Estádio do Dragão weighs in at £51 million, which is a price worth paying if you're replacing a hero like De Gea for years and years to come.

Now, obviously, football is a fast-moving and fickle beast, so it's possible that the links to United might fade and so too could Costa's form just as the wider world wakes up to his brilliance.

However, as things stand, there's good reason to believe that he could be the man to carry on the Red Devils' proud goalkeeping heritage - and his Leverkusen masterclass showed exactly why.