Man City make ‘concrete move’ for £34.7m Chelsea target despite Ederson U-turn

Manchester City have made a ‘concrete move’ to sign a £34.7m Chelsea target but ‘want to keep’ Ederson despite the goalkeeper agreeing personal terms with Galatasaray.

City have signed Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Air-Nouri, Rayan Cherki, Sverre Nypan and Marcus Bettinelli this summer for a combined £125m, but faced the prospect of another significant outlay with Ederson heavily linked with the exit.

Last month the Brazilian insisted reports of a summer transfer were “fake” and confirmed he was looking forward to his future at the Etihad.

“No, no, no. My future is here,” the 31-year-old told reporters at the Club World Cup.

“Some friends send me a lot of news but 99 per cent is fake news. I understand, but there’s a lot of fake news around my name.

“My head is staying at the club. It stays with the City. It gives me everything to go back to the Premier League again and try to win the Champions League as well.”

But Galatasaray then came calling and after the 31-year-old agreed personal terms with the Turkish giants, City looked into activating James Trafford’s buyback clause to hijack Newcastle’s move for the Burnley stopper, which is thought to be around £40m.

But now The Independent’s Richard Jolly has confirmed that City ‘want to keep Ederson, rather than selling the goalkeeper to Galatasaray’.

‘Ederson has entered the last year of his contract but while City risk losing him on a free transfer next summer, they are keen to ensure he stays at the Etihad Stadium,’ Jolly adds.

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That’s not stopped City making a ‘concrete move’ to sign Paris Saint-Germain star Gianluigi Donnarumma, whose future is in doubt with his contract set to expire at the end of the coming season.

When asked about his contract situation in May, Donnarumma said:  “I’m under contract for one more year… it’s up to the club. If PSG want me to stay, I’m gonna stay. We just have to sign the new contract. It’s up to the club.”

But there’s been little progress in extension talks with reports claiming Donnarumma continues to reject PSG proposals, with the French giants said to be looking at Porto’s Diogo Costa as a possible replacement for the Italy international.

And Fichajes claim City see Donnarumma – who’s valued at €40m [£34.7m] by Transfermarkt – as ‘a strategic opportunity to ensure the future’ of the goalkeeping position, with both his contract statement and a ‘possible restructuring of PSG’ creating a ‘favourable climate for his departure’.

Reported interest from Chelsea is confirmed by the Spanish outlet, who also claim Bayern Munich are ‘following his footsteps’ as they look for a long-term replacement for Manuel Neuer.

But City are ‘willing to get ahead’ of their rivals to sign the 26-year-old, whether Ederson ends up leaving this summer or not.