6 July 2018; Gavin Bazunu of Shamrock Rovers saves a penalty from Kieran Sadlier of Cork City during the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division match between Cork City and Shamrock Rovers at Turner's Cross in Cork. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

A weekend of final negotiations has resulted in Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu agreeing to join Manchester City next summer for a fee of €400,000.

Rovers officials wrapped up their transfer deal, which will include add-ons, at the Etihad on Friday before the 16-year-old visited for Sunday's first home game of the season against Huddersfield Town.

The stopper, voted SSE Airtricity/SWAI Player of the Month for July, will stick to his plan of sitting the Leaving Certificate before moving to England to begin a four-year contract with the Premier League champions.

Tottenham Hotspur had also registered their interest in Bazunu by lodging an offer last month, but it was easily outbid by City, who had been tracking the Dubliner well in advance of him becoming Rovers' youngest ever first-team player last month. Bazunu kept clean sheets in all four of his League of Ireland outings, notably saving a Kieran Sadlier penalty against champions Cork, before conceding once in each of the Europa League ties against AIK Stockholm.

A thigh strain picked up during extra-time of the second leg prevented him continuing his run against Waterford and he's been kept out of the team since by Alan Mannus.

Even if he wasn't academically minded, as a player on professional forms FIFA's transfer rules debar Bazunu from moving to a club outside the jurisdiction until he turns 17 in February.

Next week, he will start sixth year in Ashfield College, the school Rovers have an arrangement in place with to sponsor fees of selected recruits.

Bazunu will once again provide competition to former Northern Ireland international Mannus during the first four months of next season in combination with his school work.

Then it's off to join the wealthiest club in the Premier League, where he's well aware of the competition for a first-team place.

Despite the fee being lucrative for a League of Ireland club, the risk element is put in context by City's sale of Angus Gunn to Southampton last month.

The 22-year-old goalkeeper, who is an academy graduate, commanded a fee of €15m despite never playing a first-team game for the club.

Irish Independent