Journalist Samuel Luckhurst has admitted he’s not been impressed by what he’s seen of Manchester United-linked goalkeeper Diogo Costa.
Portuguese outlet Carreiro de Manha reported that Erik ten Hag is keen on bringing the player to Old Trafford as a replacement for David de Gea, while it also stated that the player has a release clause of around €75m (£66.4m).
The 23-year-old was the go-to man between the sticks for Portugal at the World Cup, where he made five appearances and kept one clean sheet across the tournament.
But speaking on the Manchester Evening News YouTube channel about goalkeepers being linked with an Old Trafford switch, Luckhurst admitted he wasn’t ‘impressed’ by what he saw of Costa.
He stated: “Diogo Costa’s one, and he was worse than [Unai] Simon at the World Cup. And I know we shouldn’t judge players on a major tournament, but just his general attributes – I wasn’t particularly impressed by them. It’s almost as if because he’s a Jorge Mendes client, because he’s in Portugal, because he might have a good penalty record, I don’t know; there seems to be a lot of noise around him.”
TIF Thoughts on Luckhurst’s comments…
We believe that Costa should be one that Man United should keep tabs on, as he’s still very young and will likely develop as a player in the coming years.
The 23-year-old has kept six clean sheets from 13 league matches this season with Porto and has 11 caps to his name for Portugal.
Costa’s stock will surely only rise, while he is already showing the potential to be one of the top goalkeepers in Europe. When compared to other ‘keepers playing at a similar level, he has some impressive stats.
He ranks in the top 13% for clean sheets and the top 6% for crosses stopped (FBref). Clearly, Costa is a very authoritative keeper who can command his area well.
Paying his release clause would be a massive gamble on such a young ‘keeper, but it would be unfair to rule him out so soon. David de Gea’s deal is up next summer and the club will have to decide if they offer him a new deal or turn to the future and find a successor.