Very unexpectedly given that his name had never been linked to the capital club until then, a Russian media announced that Krasnodar international goalkeeper Matvey Safonov (25 years old) is in the process of joining PSG, the two clubs being close to an agreement for 20 million euros excluding bonuses.
It had been known for a few weeks that Paris wanted to bring in a goalkeeper in order to compete with Gianluigi Donnarumma, something his replacements Arnau Tenas, Keylor Navas and Sergio Rico were incapable of this season and the previous ones, but the identity of this number 1 bis hadn’t really filtered through until then. The Russian press is reporting an unexpected name to say the least who could well be the lucky one.
According to information from local media Championship, PSG and the Krasnodar club are very close to completing the transfer of goalkeeper Matvey Safonov, Russian international (9 caps) who is 25 years old. This announced competitor from Donnarumma is therefore exactly the same age as the Italian and is not particularly young since he has started in goal for his club since 2017 and has played around 150 professional matches, notably being part of the Russia’s Euro 2020 roster.
According to information from Championship, PSG and Krasnodar are very close to completing the transfer of Safonov (1.92m) for an amount of 20 million euros plus bonuses, which is considered by the media behind this information as a good level sale made by the Russian club. This entire transfer has been negotiated for several weeks but has not yet been completed even if the two parties are very close.
[MAJ 9h] Former Russian coach Stanislav Cherchesov confirmed to Championship that he had heard of PSG’s interest in Safonov a few weeks ago. So it’s a real avenue, to see if it will be done.
It is also specified that PSG supervises Safonov, but also several other goalkeepers as evidenced by the few current rumors surrounding Bundesliga goalkeepers, for many weeks and the Parisian sports director Luis Campos is said to have gone to several Krasnodar matches in order to supervise Matvey Safonov himself. He came away visibly convinced to the point of wanting to complete the transfer. This season, he notably distinguished himself as… decisive passer of a long hand throw:
As the Russian media points out, this is the biggest transfer of a local player since the departure of a certain Aleksandr Golovin to Monaco in the summer of 2018. In the Western press, and particularly French, there is no has, however, until now had no confirmation of the arrival of Matvey Safonov at PSG, even if it is well and truly expected that the capital club will bring in a goalkeeper during the summer as Le Parisien repeated again yesterday.
