Nottingham Forest are said to be on the verge of signing goalkeeper Arijanet Muric from Manchester City.
Reports suggest the 6ft 5in Kosovo international is on a season-long loan deal for Martin O’Neill’s squad.
Muric is highly regarded by the Premier League giants, and would make the move to the City Ground with a ringing endorsement from boss Pep Guardiola.
What’s been said about him?
Guardiola deployed Muric five times between the posts last season – with the 20-year-old also featuring for the club’s Under-21s in the Checkatrade Trophy.
He made his Sky Blues debut in a 3-0 victory over Oxford in the Carabao Cup and went on to rack up the rest of his first-team appearances in the competition.
Muric was the hero in the quarter-final triumph over Leicester City.
The visiting fans were left singing his name after he saved spot-kicks from James Maddison and Caglar Soyuncu in the penalty shootout, with the game having finished 1-1.
“He’s trained really good. He’s so shy,” Guardiola said afterwards.
“He deserved the big applause because during the game he was brilliant, saving the actions with his foot, and of course he saved two penalties.
“Aro is so big and the pressure for the opponents is not easy because his reactions are so quick.
“He has a lot of power in his legs and he made the right decisions, even for the penalty from Harry Maguire.
“The taker was exceptional but he was there.
“It’s good experience for him. He’s played all the competition and is a good signing.”
He’s good at facing penalties then?
Muric says studying teammate Claudio Bravo’s penalty-saving heroics against the Foxes in the Carabao Cup the previous season paid dividends.
“It’s about personality, with Claudio,” Muric told the Manchester Evening News.
“He is very good at penalties, so I have been learning. I used some of his teaching – like walking forwards, to try to make the player a bit nervous.
“I was trying to get them to focus on me, and it seemed to work.
“I was nervous and can do a lot better but I had worked a lot with my goalkeeper coaches and the great keepers I train with.
“It gives me a lot of confidence.
“It was my first shoot-out in the first-team, but I have had them in the junior teams, one against Rotherham. I have had three and lost one.”
Sounds like he’s got potential?
Murich started out at Grasshoppers Zurich before making the move to City in 2016.
High lines and playing out from the back were new concepts to the youngster prior to that.
Asked if he had always been good with his feet, the 20-year-old told the MEN last September: “No, not really!
“I keep improving with my feet. I have improved a lot since I’ve come.
“I started since I was here to play higher and come out. It’s not something I did before I came to City but I enjoy it.
“My coach said to me to play high so that’s what I’ve done.”
He’s caught the eye of a few people…
Former Republic of Ireland international Kevin Kilbane watched Muric play in the youth team at City and described him as “the best goalkeeper” he had seen at underage level.
“He’s the best I’ve seen with his feet, the best shot-stopper, the best at commanding his area at taking crosses… He’s 6ft 4in or 6ft 6in,” Kilbane said in a discussion on Off The Ball last year, reflecting on when he saw Muric a couple of years earlier.
“He has every attribute that you would look on and think, ‘this guy is going to go on and get 100 caps for his country, he’s going to go on and win several Premier Leagues’.
“When you watch him, you just think, ‘this guy is unbelievable’.
“He seriously has everything. What a talent.”
