With the Athletic reporting Southampton were closing in on a £10 million deal to sign Gavin Bazunu, several Manchester City fans voiced their frustration at the club’s inability to keep hold of the goalkeeping prodigy as an understudy to Ederson.
Maybe conditioned by Zack Steffen’s recent string of errors against Southampton and Liverpool in the FA Cup, a majority of the Sky Blues supporter base have not hidden their desire to see the highly-rated 20-year-old be integrated into the City first-team.
While the Etihad faithful’s opinion on the starlet’s potential exit needs no introduction at this point, the club’s viewpoint on the transfer has been revealed.
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According to a report by Sky Sports News, while Gavin Bazunu is understood to be ‘highly thought of’ at Manchester City, they believe that the deal suits both the player and the club.
Alex Crook of TalkSport’s revelation aligns with this information, as he mentioned that while Manchester City offered the Irish international a significant pay rise alongside a long-term contract extension, the youngster ultimately could not refuse the career-changing opportunity of becoming the number one for a Premier League club.
In addition, it is key to remember that while the Blues intended to keep Gavin Bazunu at the Etihad Stadium, the deal also suits them, as they look set to sell a player they reportedly bought for £420,000 in 2019, for a sizeable profit of £10 million in 2022.
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Interestingly, it has also been revealed by James Ducker of the Telegraph that Manchester City are expected to include a buy-back option as well as a sell-on clause if the deal ends up going through.
Ultimately, this is an insight into the fact that - while Manchester City are losing out on Gavin Bazunu in the short-term - the club have covered all bases to emerge as the benefactors in the long-term.
Topics: Manchester City, Premier League, Gavin Bazunu, Southampton
Srinivas Sadhanand