Manchester United appear to be close to securing a new goalkeeper ahead of next season as Erik ten Hag is finalising a bid for Portuguese star, Diogo Costa.
What’s the latest on Diogo Costa to Manchester United?
According to Cofina Media (via the Daily Mail), United are finalising a bid for Porto ‘keeper Costa, which stands at £65m – his release clause.
Journalist Simon Jones claims David De Gea has signed a new contract with the club that is less than his previous salary of £375k-per-week, however, United haven’t yet signed off on it.
Costa has a contract at the Portuguese side until 2027 and recently claimed that he hoped ‘to continue’ at Porto, although it appears as though he could be on his way to Manchester.
Could Diogo Costa be the new number one at Manchester United?
De Gea won the Premier League Golden Glove award for keeping a league-high 17 clean sheets last term, despite him making two clear errors which led to goals. Mistakes against West Ham United last month and Brentford last August clearly displayed his increased fragility between the posts, and it looks as though, although he might stay at the Red Devils, the potential arrival of Costa could push him down the pecking order.
The 6 foot 1 shot-stopper enjoyed a wonderful season, conceding just 22 goals across 33 Liga Portugal matches, keeping 16 clean sheets during that same period, making 1.9 saves per game and completing 0.6 successful run-outs per game – a success rate of 96%.
De Gea managed 2.7 saves per game while succeeding with 0.3 successful run-outs per match, and he averaged 36.1 touches, suggesting that he wasn’t as comfortable with Ten Hag’s philosophy of playing out from the back.
Costa on the other hand could be ideally suited to this, having averaged 42.6 touches per game, indicating how comfortable he is on the ball, while his 92% pass success rate from his own half suggests he is excellent at starting attacks from his own box.
The 23-year-old could join fellow compatriots Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot at Old Trafford should he join the side this summer, and the latter had some praise for Costa, saying: "I grew up with him and he’s my friend, there’s a great relationship between us.
“I know perfectly well that he has the capacity to one day be one of the best in the world."
With this praise, Ten Hag must go all out in order to bring the ‘keeper to the Red Devils, and he could be key heading into the next season as the side return to the Champions League.