Man United 'identify' £64m penalty-saving machine as dream candidate to replace Andre Onana

Man United goalkeeper Andre Onana has struggled for form during his time at Old Trafford, specifically, he’s regularly made costly mistakes that the Red Devils can hardly afford to make.

Ruben Amorim was forced to drop the Cameroonian stopper earlier in April after he made two crucial mistakes in their Europa League quarter-final first leg against Lyon, which ended in a 2-2 draw.

However, seeing as Altay Bayindir isn’t a suitable number one keeper, United will have to replace Onana, with it looking more and more likely that they could sell him to a Saudi Pro League club in the summer.

Manchester United willing to offer £50m to sign Diogo Costa

One keeper that United have been linked to is Porto stopper Diogo Costa, who has a £64 million release clause in his contract with the Portuguese club. Costa has made 41 appearances for Porto this season, conceding just 44 goals and keeping 18 clean sheets. However, according to reports in Portugal, United are willing to offer £50m for Costa, with Porto willing to listen to offers for the goalkeeper lower than his £64m release clause.

The report by newspaper Correio da Manha says that United have already sent a scout to follow the 25-year-old for the last few games of the season. Costa has also reportedly attracted attention from rivals Manchester City. Porto are said to only sanction his sale after the Club World Cup, but they are willing to let him go, meaning United could sign him ahead of the start of the next Premier League season.

Costa isn’t the only keeper that the Red Devils have been linked to in recent weeks as Southampton and England stopper Aaron Ramsdale has been touted as a potential target for Amorim. Ramsdale is expected to be a cut-price option compared to Costa, after he was relegated with the Saints this season, meaning that his price of £20m in the summer last year, could have decreased - he could be a bargain pick up if they don’t want to fork out the hefty asking price for Costa.

Costa’s impressive penalty-saving record

The Portuguese international has an impressive record when it comes to saving against spot kicks, both for his club and national team.

He has saved 12 of 45 penalties taken against him in his career, including two for the Portugal national team - the other 10 were for Porto. Costa has denied some apt penalty takers in his career with the likes of United midfielder Christian Eriksen and Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick seeing him stop their efforts.

He has 82 clean sheets in 195 career appearances for Porto, conceding 173 goals in total, which works out at 0.89 goals conceded per game, compared to Andre Onana, who has conceded 1.12 goals per game in his career. Costa’s penalty saving record is much better than Onana, who has saved just seven spot kicks out of 50 taken against him. In Euro 2024, Costa saved all three of Slovenia’s penalties against Portugal in their Round of 16 penalty shootout.

In other news, Manchester United hold 'positive talks' for major summer transfer that has Ruben Amorim approval.