Hugo Viana makes Man City goalkeeper claim after £53m transfers

Manchester City signed three new goalkeepers this summer and director of football Hugo Viana has opened up on that transfer business.

Gianluigi Donnarumma had an impressive Manchester City debut on Sunday

Manchester City's director of football, Hugo Viana, believes the club have the best goalkeepers in the Premier League after a summer overhaul of that position.

Viana's first summer in charge of transfer business at the Etihad led to significant change between the posts. Long-term No. 1 Ederson joined Fenerbahce, while Scott Carson left after six years when his contract expired.

Marcus Bettinelli was first through the door as a replacement for Carson, before City swooped for James Trafford in July, paying Burnley £27million to bring the 22-year-old back to the Etihad.

At that point, Trafford was expected to challenge Ederson, but Paris St-Germain's decision to sell Gianluigi Donnarumma created an opportunity for City. The Blues paid PSG £26million for Donnarumma, 26, and on the same day, Ederson completed his £11million move to Turkey.

On the outside, it has looked like a dramatic and chaotic summer in terms of goalkeepers, and Trafford could feel aggrieved that the challenge of establishing himself as No. 1 has now become considerably more difficult with Donnarumma in front of him rather than Ederson.

But Viana's focus is on the depth in that position. Stefan Ortega is also still at the club after turning down several offers this summer, and City's director of football is confident no club can match the quality of goalkeepers available to Pep Guardiola.

“We have four great goalkeepers in James, Donnarumma, Marcus and Ortega which was important for the club and the dressing room, and I don’t see any team stronger than us on the goalkeeping position, so we are really happy with them," said Viana.

"We have two young goalkeepers in Donnarumma who is 26 and James who is 22 which is important for the future of the club.”

In Donnarumma and Trafford, City have signed two big goalkeepers and Viana said bringing in players with physicality was a key focus of the window given the demands in the Premier League now.

“First, we have to identify the positions that the team need to be better and during that process we have a lot of meetings with Pep and then with the scouting department," he said.

"But nowadays, we can speak about talent, the right characteristics to any position we are looking for, but I would mention players with the evolution of the game, the intensity of the game also, we need to have players with the right physicality and are physically reliable, it’s really important in the Premier League.”

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