Manchester City transfer news: City close to signing goalkeeper Claudio Bravo from Barcelona

Pep Guardiola's search for a new number one goalkeeper is nearing completion with the club close to a deal for the Chilean goalkeeper

Barcelona's Claudio Bravo

Manchester City are close to reaching a deal to bring Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo to the Etihad Stadium, as Pep Guardiola pushes through with his plans to have a goalkeeper who is more adept with his feet than Joe Hart.

Guardiola controversially dropped Hart for City's Premier League opener against Sunderland on Saturday, picking Willy Caballero instead.

It was a move borne out of Guardiola's commitment to having a goalkeeper who could start attacks with his feet, a skill which he doubts Hart has.

Now Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain want to bring in a new goalkeeper who can do that, and have been considering an approach this season where one goalkeeper plays in the Premier League and the other in the Champions League. That was the plan made famous by Barcelona, who won the treble in 2015 with Bravo in goal in La Liga and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen in Europe.

Those were the two goalkeepers that City were most interested in this summer, but Ter Stegen will be promoted to full-time number one at Barcelona this season, meaning that Bravo is the more attainable of the two.

City were last night close to agreeing a £21million fee with Barcelona for Bravo, who joined from Real Sociedad in 2014.

The 33-year-old is expected to fly in to Manchester later this week once a deal is reached between the two clubs. He would then likely be sharing the role with Caballero this season, while Hart would be free to leave.