MANCHESTER CITY are poised to hijack rivals Manchester United in the race for Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa.
Deposed Prem champions City plan to cash in where their cash-strapped neighbours have failed in chasing the Portugal star.
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Old Trafford chiefs were put off by a £64million release clause in 25-year-old Costa’s contract.
Even though boss Ruben Amorim wants to replace blunder keeper Andre Onana, the price is considered too high.
But talks are well underway about bringing Costa to the Etihad as part of a major close-season revamp of City boss Pep Guardiola’s squad.
City are braced for current keeper Ederson to quit at the end of the campaign for a megabucks move to Saudi Arabia’s Pro League with just a year left on his contract.
There are also fears that his understudy Stefan Ortega could follow his team-mate through the door.
Guardiola wants new faces to help re-energise his four-in-a-row Premier League champions who could be surrendering their crown to runaway leaders Liverpool as early as Wednesday night..
He signed striker Omar Marmoush plus defenders Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis in January but knows more dealing is needed for his team to regain superiority in English football.
Normally dominant City are third in the Premier League table and only just clinging on for Champions League football next season.
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They were dumped out in the Last 16 this year by Real Madrid and conceded six goals over the two games.
They have let in 43 league goals this season – already nine more than for the whole of last season – and there are still four games to play.
Across Manchester, United boss Amorim has had problems between the sticks.
Onana was dropped for the trip to Newcastle earlier this month following high-profile errors against Lyon in the Europa League.
But money is tight at Old Trafford. Minority stakeholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe has waged a campaign of swingeing cuts which includes staff redundancies and cutbacks on perks such as free lunches for ordinary workers.