City keeper aims high after £32m deal

New Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson has set his sights on winning the Premier League and Champions League after completing his £32million move from Benfica.

The 23-year-old became Pep Guardiola’s second signing of the summer after negotiations over the severance of his third-party ownership agreement with former club Rio Ave and Jorge Mendes’s agency, Gestifute, were finalised.

Ederson is likely to start next campaign as Guardiola’s first choice after an unconvincing maiden season from Claudio Bravo and the Brazilian has already set his sights high.

“I like everything about Manchester City. I have always had the dream to play in English football and now I’m going to make it true,” he told mancity.com after signing a six-year contract.

“With Pep Guardiola, City are growing more and more. He is putting in place a young team for the future. Those were important factors in making my decision.

“Manchester City has an amazing squad. I think they managed to have a good season. Next season, we will have to be focused to achieve the goal of winning trophies.

“As for my ambitions with City, I want to win the Premier League and the Champions League. Those are my two main goals in this shirt.”

City have got two major bits of business done early this summer, with Ederson following the arrival of £43million playmaker Bernardo Silva from Monaco.

Ederson has all the qualities Guardiola wants in a keeper: good distribution, a willingness to cover the space outside his area, quick reflexes and good at close-range shot-stopping.

“I’m going to try to adapt to this league as quick as possible. Everyone knows here the competition is ferocious,” he said.

“It’s a bit different than the Portuguese league. At Benfica, I played a little bit more advanced and I was involved a lot in the game. I think that revolution in the way goalkeepers get involved in the game was very important.

“I already had that skill to play outside the box. When I played for a team (Rio Ave) lower down I didn’t have the chance to play far from the goal, I had to stay close to it.

“But when I went to Benfica, I was able to improve what I knew and play further out getting more involved in the games, being more active. I’ve been developing that since.”