Manchester City has, in recent times been blessed with some of the best goalkeepers English football has ever seen. For example, Joe Corrigan was City’s number one shot-stopper when I began supporting the club. I mean, how good was he? We’ve also had David James, Joe Hart….the list of world-class keepers is almost endless.
Nostalgia apart, the club is currently blessed to have Claudio Bravo and up and coming Daniel Grimshaw on the books. However, there is one who, in my opinion, blows the rest out of the water – Ederson Moraes.
In what looks like a bargain in today’s inflated prices City paid (what was described as silly money at the time) Benfica £35m to bring Brazil’s number two to the Etihad.
Ederson who, I thought?
My mindset was geared up to thinking Pep would admit he was wrong in sticking with Claudio Bravo and that we would give Joe Hart, who had been farmed out on loan the previous season a second chance. But no, I was proven wrong, and rightly so.
Early into his City career, Ederson began to earn praise by displaying his physical strength, excellent distribution and lack of fear.
The point I’m trying to make is, who remembers Sadio Mane’s horrendous kick to his face two months into the 2017/18 season. The bloke nearly took Ederson’s head off. Eight stitches later the 23-year-old was back on the field, albeit with a face mask seven days later.
Now 24, City’s number one between the sticks is that good with the ball at his feet, many suggest he could play, at a high level as an outfielder.
An energetic, quick thinker, Ederson is in my book the best keeper the Premier League has seen for years, and I for one am delighted we’ll see a whole lot more of his skills and level-headedness for years to come.
Former City keeper says Ederson was definitely the best last season
Former City youth keeper and current Leicester City’s number one Kasper Schmeichel spoke to ESPN Brazil ahead of this weekend’s opening 2018/19 Premier League season and in doing so praised City’s reliable Ederson to the hilt.
“For someone, particularly at that age, to be playing fearlessly as he is, he plays with high risk and his reading of the game is exceptional. It’s a trademark of Guardiola. You saw exactly how he played with [Bayern Munich No. 1 Manuel] Neuer as well.
“If you can play like that, it means you can press so much higher up the pitch, meaning when the other team does eventually have to kick it long then if it goes over the center-halves’ heads then you’ve got a guy right behind them.”
Kasper continued…
“He’s basically an 11th outfield player. To be able to play like that is something that takes enormous bravery. To know that the line between getting it right and wrong is so thin. Any potential misstep, a fraction of a millisecond too late or too early can be the difference between costing your team. That’s real bravery. Last season he was definitely the best goalkeeper in the league, for me.”
Will Ederson continue where he left off?
You can bet your bottom dollar he will.