CITY SPECIAL Ederson is cool on huge transfer fee
EDERSON is taking everything in his lengthy stride as he settles into life at City.
The Brazilian goalkeeper, who recently earned his first call-up to the national team, is in the spotlight after being picked as the next solution to Pep Guardiola’s goalkeeping problem.
Having offloaded Joe Hart last season, the manager brought in Claudio Bravo from Barcelona but saw him fail to convince and eventually replaced him with Willy Caballero, who has since left the club.
Ederson thus became the world’s second most expensive goalkeeper ever this summer, with City paying Benfica £34.7m.
However, inflated prices in the transfer market and Bravo being absent from the summer tour have allowed the 24-year-old to go under the radar at the Blues, a situation he doesn’t mind one bit.
“The price of my transfer doesn’t matter much to me,” he said. “If it was £10m, £20m or £30m, for me it doesn’t matter.
“Friends have said to me: ‘How does it feel to be the second-most expensive keeper in history?’
“I’m ready for that. It’s not going to affect my concentration. I’m calm and ready to do a great job here at Manchester City.” SIGNING a former United player is, almost literally, like a red rag to a bull for City fans.
There are die-hard Blues out there who would not countenance a free transfer for Cristiano Ronaldo due to him being tainted by his Old Trafford pedigree.
So when Pep Guardiola lined up a move for West Brom skipper Jonny Evans, who was moved on from United in 2015 in an £8m deal, the incredulous reaction was predictable.
City are understood to have made two bids for Evans, with West Brom rejecting the latest, believed to be for £18m.
On the face of it, Evans would appear to carry that label so beloved of vindictive football fans, tagged as a “United reject”.
But if you scratch beneath the surface, City’s move for Evans makes plenty of sense.
They need a fourth centre-back, an experienced one who can play in a three and who is comfortable with the ball at his feet, and they do not want to spend £70m on a Virgil van Dijk.