Columbus Crew SC were always going to undergo some major offseason changes with a new ownership group coming into save the Crew, but now the Black & Gold will be looking for a new goalkeeper. Zack Steffen, the team’s starter over the last two years, is headed to English Premier League side Manchester City.

This news was first reported by The Athletic’s Paul Tenorio and has since been confirmed by Massive Report. According to those close to the situation, the deal with be for approximately $9 million and will be completed once the winter transfer window opens on Jan. 1.

Steffen was acquired by Crew SC from German side Freiburg in July of 2016. While he did not make an appearance for Columbus that season, the 23 year old took over as the team’s starter the next year following the departure of Steve Clark. Steffen started all 34 MLS matches that season, recording nine shutouts.

In 2018, Steffen improved on his debut year for the Black & Gold, starting 29 games and recording 10 shutouts and a goals against average of 1.28. The 10 shutouts in a season tied Steffen with Jon Busch (2004) and William Hesmer (2008) for second place on team’s list of most by a player in a single regular season. Steffen also set a new Crew SC record for the longest shutout streak in regular season action, keeping a clean sheet for 525 minutes. Steffen’s streak is also the eighth-longest regular season shutout streak in MLS history.

Steffen was rewarded for his play on the field, as he was named MLS Player of the Month for May. He was also named an MLS All-Star in 2018, playing the second half of the game against Juventus and recording three saves. In early November, Steffen was named the 2018 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and an MLS Best XI player.

During the summer transfer window, Crew SC turned down a bid of $3.9 million from Bristol City for Steffen. At the time, a number of European teams were interested in the young goalkeeper and that was the case again following the conclusion of Columbus’ season.

Manchester City is a team that has been interested in Steffen for some time, sending scouts to Columbus to watch the goalkeeper in person this fall. Given the similarities between playing styles between Black & Gold head coach Gregg Berhalter and City coach Pep Guardiola, Steffen — who has become adept at playing with his feet — is a good fit for the Blue side of Manchester.

The major sticking point on this deal is Steffen’s ability to acquired a work permit. Players born outside of Europe must have a work permit before they can play for their new club. In order to acquire one, the club must prove a player is established internationally at the highest level and that he will make a significant contribution to the development of football at the highest level in the UK.

For a player from the United States, a work permit will be automatically granted if he has participated in 60 percent of competitive senior international matches for his national team over the last two years. Steffen has made nine appearances for the U.S. Men’s National Team, with all of those coming since January.

Massive Report has learned that the plan for Steffen, assuming he cannot acquired a work permit upon appeal, is to go on loan to Nice, who plays in France’s Ligue 1. Nice is currently managed by former New York City FC head coach Patrick Vieira.

What is unknown about the Steffen deal is where the money will go. Typically MLS teams retain 75 percent of a transfer fee and up to $750,000 can be assigned as General Allocation Money. Crew SC are in a unique position due to the ownership situation. It is unclear if the money would remain with current investor/operator Anthony Precourt for his potential future franchise in Austin, Texas or remain with the new ownership group of Crew SC.

Massive Report spoke with one source close to the situation who believed the money would remain with Precourt if he is still the investor/operator at the time of sale but said the situation was so unique that there was no precedent to know for sure.

Regardless of where the money goes, this will be the highest transfer fee received by Crew SC for a player, eclipsing the reported $5 million the team and league received for defender Giancarlo Gonzalez in the summer of 2014. This speaks to the improvement of Steffen, who was on the outside looking in at Freiburg as recently as two and a half years ago, and the shrewd business of Berhalter.