Manchester City eye significant reduction on Porto asking price for Diogo Costa | OneFootball

Officials at the Etihad Stadium are seeking a significant reduction to the asking price from FC Porto on their star goalkeeper, Diogo Costa this summer.

Manchester City officials are said to be keen on the 25-year-old with a view towards significant changes in their goalkeeping department, and perhaps the biggest alterations since Pep Guardiola’s first two transfer windows at the club back in 2016 and 2017.

After a season of injury reoccurrences for mainstay shot-stopper Ederson, Stefan Ortega Moreno has been granted further opportunities to impress as the German goes in search of a number one slot at one of Europe’s top sides.

While that position is unlikely to be at Manchester City with or without Ederson as his goalkeeping teammate, there is expected to be interest from elsewhere including Bayer Leverkusen and Nottingham Forest.

However, it is his Brazilian teammate who is more likely to depart at present, having shown a keen desire to make a move to Saudi Arabia last summer before clubs in the middle-east refused to meet Manchester City’s £50 million valuation.

Now, as Manchester City go in search of their long-term successor to Ederson, it appears as though things are stepping up a notch following the claim earlier this week that their number one priority for the role had agreed to a move in principle.

According to the information of Footmercato’s Santi Aouna, while Diogo Costa has a €60 million release clause in his existing contract in Portugal, and FC Porto would ‘love to see interested clubs pay it’, Manchester City have no intention of agreeing to such a fee.

As such, it is revealed that the four-in-a-row Premier League champions would rather finalise a deal for the goalkeeper at the €40 million mark – the price they paid back in 2017 to secure Ederson from Benfica.

The expectation from an outsider’s perspective would be that Manchester City have a strong relationship in place with their hierarchy counterparts in Porto, particularly having worked well on a deadline day deal during the January market earlier this year.

With the Premier League champions embarking on a late search for a midfield recruit during the winter window, the profile of Nico Gonzalez emerged to club officials in Manchester, who worked swiftly to thrash out terms with the Portuguese club and finalise an agreement.

Both parties working well on such a high-profile, big-money move can only work in their favour this summer when it comes to Diogo Costa, with the two clubs evidently on the same page in terms of valuations of key talents.