Man City Recall 19-Year-Old Aro Muric From NAC Breda Loan to Ease Goalkeeping Crisis

Manchester City have recalled 19-year-old goalkeeper Aro Muric from a loan spell at partner club NAC Breda in an attempt to ease the potential crisis following the Achilles injury suffered by Claudio Bravo that threatens to keep him out for the rest of the season.

Bravo's ruptured ligaments resulted in Ederson being the only senior goalkeeper in the City squad after the club opted to let both Joe Hart and Angus Gunn leave during the summer.

Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/GettyImages

It left home grown Daniel Grimshaw as the only option behind Ederson, which could have resulted in the 20-year-old being thrown in at the deep end with no back-up had the Brazilian got injured or picked up a suspension at any point during the season.

There had initially been speculative rumours that City did not have the option to recall Montenegro Under-21 international Muric as part of the loan agreement. That would have meant City had to apply for special dispensation for an emergency loan signing or source an unattached free agent given that the transfer deadline passed earlier this month.

But with Muric back it swells the numbers behind Ederson and the teenager, who kept a clean sheet for NAC in an Eredivisie win over De Graafchap a week after the team had been beaten 5-0 without him, is expected to be on the bench this weekend when City face Wolves.

NAC have confirmed that the City Football Group, the parent company that owns City and holds stakes in various other clubs, will assist them in identifying a suitable replacement for Muric.

"Despite looking at other solutions, we eventually had to decide to return Aro to Manchester," NAC director Hans Smulders told NAC.nl.

"Having a partnership also means that you try to help each other in these situations of force majeure. We help Manchester City with the return of Aro and of course City Football Group helps us to solve the situation that has arisen in the goal at NAC."