Barcelona signs Brazilian goalkeeper Neto

Barcelona have agreed to sign Brazilian goalkeeper Norberto Murara Neto from Valencia for an initial 26 million euros , the La Liga champions said on Thursday.

Neto will sign a four-year deal with Barcelona that will keep him at the club until the end of the 2022-23 season and he will replace Dutch goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen who moved the other way on Wednesday.

“FC Barcelona and Valencia CF have reached an agreement for the transfer of the player Norberto Murara Neto,” Barcelona said in a statement.

“The cost of the transaction will be 26 million euros (23.30 million pounds) plus 9 million in add-ons.”

Barcelona also said that they would be inserting a release clause of 200 million euros in Neto’s contract and the 29-year-old is expected to be backup to first-choice Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Neto made 47 appearances for Valencia in all competitions last season, and his 10 clean sheets in La Liga helped them qualify for the Champions League after they clinched the fourth and final spot at the end of the campaign.

Dutchman Cillessen’s departure in the opposite direction was announced the previous day for a similar sum. He arrived at the Spanish giants in 2016 as understudy to Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

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He never managed to unseat the German star who remains the first choice goalkeeper with Neto, 29, formerly of Fiorentina and Juventus, moving in as number two.

Norberto Murara Neto (born on 19 July 1989 in Araxá, Brazil) embodies Brazilian smoothness between the posts. His agility and quick reactions have made him the sure-handed goalkeeper who turned in outstanding performances at Valencia (2017-2019), Juventus (2015-2017), Fiorentina (2011-2015 ) and Paranaense (2002-2011). Neto has been a goalkeeper since his childhood in Brazil, and always wore gloves to emulate his father.

Neto made the leap to Europe via Fiorentina, where his last two seasons were spectacular, becoming one of the fundamental pieces of the Italian side’s defensive unit, which led him to sign with Juventus. But in Turin, Neto was Gianluigi Buffon’s backup, and the desire to continually improve year after year led Neto to Valencia, where he was the starting goalkeeper the last two seasons.

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