The Premier League champions had agreed terms with the 16-year-old a fortnight ago and he finalised a four-year contract upon another visit to the club this week.

Rovers are to receive an initial fee of €460,000 for a player they’ve had the club since he was nine years old, with substantial additions payable should he progress through the ranks. Roy O’Donovan’s €500,000 move from Cork City to Sunderland in 2007 remains the biggest fee for a League of Ireland player but Bazunu’s deal will surpass it if any of the add-ons are triggered.

A number of other top-flight clubs, especially Tottenham who rivalled City by making a bid, expressed an interest but Bazunu’s heart has long been set on joining one of the wealthiest clubs in the world.

He will move to the Etihad permanently next June after his Leaving Certificate exams.

As he was a signed professional with the Hoops, the starlet was prevented moving out of the jurisdiction anyway until after he turned 17 next February.

Bazunu had spent time at several clubs, amongst them Arsenal, Chelsea, and Celtic but none of those tabled a firm offer. Liverpool, through Jurgen Klopp’s goalkeeping coach John Achterberg, also came to watch Bazunu in the Premier League game against Derry City in July.

Once a delegation from Rovers, led by Director of Football Stephen McPhail, brokered a transfer fee with City a fortnight ago, permission was granted for club officials to approach the Rovers player.

He and his parents were guests of the giants for their opening home game of the season against Huddersfield Town, after which the stopper got to meet his new employers, including Pep Guardiola. His main contact, however, will be Jason Wilcox, the former England international who now heads up with City’s Academy.

Wilcox spent most of his playing career at Blackburn Rovers, where he won a Premier League title in 1995 and later become a teammate of Damien Duff.

The ex-Ireland winger is currently U15 manager at Rovers while another staff member, McPhail, was a colleague of Wilcox’s while playing for Leeds United.

Bazunu will go straight into the club’s Under-18 team but is likely to feature too for their Under-23s given his progress.

The Dubliner became the youngest-ever to make a first Hoops appearance when handed his debut against Bray Wanderers last month aged just 16 years and 109 days.

That was the first of four successive clean sheets in the League of Ireland — including a penalty save from Cork City’s Kieran Sadlier at the home of the champions.

Bazunu then sampled his first Europa League action, conceding once in each leg as Rovers bowed out to AIK from Stockholm after extra-time.

He managed to keep returning rival, former Northern Ireland international Alan Mannus, out of the team only for a thigh strain to force Stephen Bradley into a change.

He remains back-up goalkeeper but Bradley has predicted the teen to eventually become Ireland’s senior international No 1. Rovers will hit the jackpot if that forecast materialises.