The No.1 has been pivotal to the Cityzens' enduring success, but his powers have been waning lately and a succession plan is already in place
There has always been a paradox with Pep Guardiola and goalkeepers. Over the course of his glittering 16-year career in management, the Catalan coach has rarely had to rely on a 'keeper to bail his sides out.
His two Champions League final wins with Barcelona were so dominant that Victor Valdes barely had to make a save. The Catalans, meanwhile, won the Copa del Rey twice with Jose Manuel Pinto, a ‘keeper that, it is believed, only stayed so long at the club due to his friendship with Lionel Messi.
Manuel Neuer was superb in Guardiola's three years at Bayern Munich, but each season his side stormed to the Bundesliga title, rarely having to look to the goalkeeper to keep them on track. It could have been said that, in his first seven years, Guardiola was able to take goalkeepers for granted. But all that changed when he took charge of Manchester City.
GettyPivotal to Pep's success
Guardiola's first major act at City was to drop Joe Hart due to his perceived lack of distribution skills and sign Claudio Bravo from Barcelona to replace him. It soon became apparent that the Chilean was not cut out for English football and his struggles were a big reason why City only finished third in the Premier League that season while failing to win a trophy, the only time that has happened in Guardiola’s coaching career.
City scoured the market for a new goalkeeper and landed on Ederson, paying a then world-record £34 million ($43m) to bring him in from Benfica. The Brazilian was unaffected by the pressure of the transfer fee and quickly proved to be Guardiola’s knight in shining armour.
His seven years with City have witnessed unprecedented success, including six Premier League titles and a Champions League triumph which, unlike Valdes, he proved crucial to pulling off. Yet despite everything they have achieved together, the timing could be just right for City and Ederson to part ways.
AdvertisementGettyTime for change
Ederson has been City’s undisputed No.1 for the last eight years, although that status ever so slightly faded last season, when he sustained a number of injuries over the course of the campaign and Stefan Ortega performed admirably in his absence.
Ederson never had anything to worry about from his previous deputies Bravo, Scott Carson or Zack Steffen, who could not match his footwork skills and were not particularly adept at shot-stopping either.
But Ortega, who joined City on a free transfer in the summer of 2022 after being relegated from the Bundesliga with Arminia Bielefeld, has proven a much fiercer rival to the Brazilian. Ortega quickly demonstrated his calmness on the ball and his ability to play out of his area when he got the nod in cup competitions in his debut season.
His long-kicking was also impressive and played a part in Ilkay Gundogan’s record-breaking goal in last year’s FA Cup final against Manchester United. And last season he held his own in some of City’s biggest games when Ederson was injured, keeping a clean sheet against Arsenal and performing well in the Champions League quarter-final 3-3 draw with Real Madrid.
Getty ImagesOrtega is ready
Ortega’s best intervention, though, came in the most crucial moment of the title race, in the penultimate game at Tottenham, when Ederson had to go off after fracturing his eye socket in a clash with Cristian Romero. In the 86th minute, Son Heung-min bared down on City’s goal with a glorious chance to level the game and hand the initiative in the title race back to Arsenal, but Ortega turned into a giant spider, thwarting the South Korean with his right leg.
Moments later, Erling Haaland scored a penalty to effectively secure the title, although Ortega was the real hero, his save proving crucial to City staying on course for a record fourth title. And in the eyes of many, it was the moment in which Ortega proved he could be the heir to Ederson’s throne.
A month before, the German had said he would have to “choose wisely” about his next step as he mulled whether to remain at City as the second-choice or seek his fortune elsewhere as a No.1.
Less than a month later, and despite a disappointing FA Cup final defeat to Manchester United, Ortega signed a new contract with City. That suggests that he also believed that he could either take Ederson on next season or that he suspected the Brazilian would be about to leave and vacate the starting spot.
Getty Image/ GOAL ARDestination Saudi
A lot has been made about how Ederson reacted to that save. According to , the Brazilian did not enjoy the adulation that his team-mate received. That has been dismissed as ‘fake news’ by Ederson’s wife. However, it should be noted that just a few days after the win over Tottenham, while the Brazilian was still nursing his eye injury, the first reports about potential interest in him from Saudi Arabia emerged.
Perhaps aware of the potential for Ederson to be sensitive to praise for Ortega, Guardiola had been at pains to point out the Brazilian’s value to his team immediately after the Tottenham win.
"Do you know why we won the Champions League?" he asked. "It was Ederson. In Madrid, at 1-1, he made an incredible save from a header from [Karim] Benzema. The Champions League final, he was the key player, the key to winning. We cannot define the period without Eddie, impossible."
But that period does seem to be close to ending. Reports of the interest from Saudi Arabia have only grown over the summer, and the numbers involved are eye-watering. Ederson was offered a staggering £900,000 per week ($1.1m) by Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr, although the club were not willing to meet City’s £50m ($63m) valuation.
Al-Ittihad are now the frontrunners to sign Ederson, and even if they are to offer lower terms than Al-Nassr, they will still blow City out the water. Ederson is reported to be on £190,000 ($242k) per week at City. There has been talk of him receiving a pay hike to remain in Manchester, but if it is to come down to money, City will not stand a chance.