Guardiola should sign this goalkeeper to replace Claudio Bravo
It’s fair to say that Pep Guardiola’s decision to sign Claudio Bravo at the start of the season was a bad one. Kicking out Joe Hart was even worse. And now Manchester City don’t have even one decent goalkeeper.
While Willy Caballero has been okay since he took over from Bravo as the number one goalkeeper, it’s still not an ideal situation for Pep Guardiola. Caballero should’ve saved at least two of Monaco’s goals in their recent 5-3 thriller.
Brace yourselves… the goalkeeper City should sign is Leicester’s Kasper Schmeichel. Yes, Leicester City have done terribly this season but that’s not Schmeichel’s fault. In fact he’s been one of their only players that have actually performed for Claudio Ranieri this season.
If you watched Leicester’s recent game against Sevilla you would’ve seen why. Schmeichel performed brilliantly after stopping a penalty kick and making a number of key saves.
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If it weren’t for Schmeichel the score would’ve been much worse. Leicester are alarmingly close to the relegation zone right now. Schmeichel will not want to stay at Leicester next season if they are relegated. Even if they do stay up he might not want to stay.
Schmeichel has an average of 3.5 saves per game this season which is actually more than his 2.6 average in their previous title winning season. Although that is easy to understand why, as the defence has been so poor this season.
Kasper Schmeichel making sure that, whatever happens, he won't be playing in the Championship next season.
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) February 22, 2017
Schmeichel was linked to Manchester City in the January transfer window but nothing came to fruition. Expect Pep Guardiola to make a move for him in the summer.
Pablo Sarabia is the first player to score against Kasper Schmeichel in the Champions League, ending a run of 385 minutes without conceding. pic.twitter.com/Xv7XPLpZQl
— Squawka (@Squawka) February 22, 2017
Manchester City’s Claudio Bravo has been so bad this season that he’s been dropped, giving Caballero a chance. Caballero is not much better. Sure, he can save a few penalties but apart from that, he’s not the greatest shot stopper and certainly not a first choice Manchester City player.
The options are quite scarce as-well. Chelsea’s goalkeeper Courtois will likely stay or if he does go he’ll go to Real Madrid. Spurs Hugo Lloris isn’t going to City. In fact, City will have to look abroad for a goalkeeper or get one from a lower league team.
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Of course they could always just recall Joe Hart from Torino but that’s not going to happen. He’s got his own weaknesses and Pep Guardiola is famously stubborn. He will not concede that he made a mistake by calling him back… unless of course Joe Hart apologizes much like the case of Yaya Toure.
Schmeichel has a great ability on the ball and is able to play and pass out from the back. This of course is a skill that Joe Hart didn’t have and which inevitably led to his demise under Pep Guardiola.
The son of Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel started out at City before leaving in 2009 to join Notts County. He went on to a number of lower-league teams in the following years until he finally settled at Leicester where has excelled. He has also made 22 appearances for Denmark during that time.
The 30-year-old is an excellent shot-stopper and without him Leicester would likely be even further down the rabbit hole.
Leicester will not force Schmeichel to stay next season and it’s likely a number of clubs in Europe will seek his signature. If City want to seriously compete for the Premier League title next season it’s imperative they sign a decent goalkeeper.
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While there may be other options for Pep, such as young Jordan Pickford from Sunderland, there aren’t a lot of top clubs that will let their star goalkeeper go. If City want to make a statement on the Premier League they will have to go after a mid table/ lower league club’s goalkeeper.
Whether Schmeichel would want to go back to his former club and his father’s rival club is debatable though.