Adam Bate claims Ederson leaves the Premier League as the most important goalkeeper in the competition's history; Pep Guardiola changed English football but he could not have done it without the brilliant Brazilian's legs.
Pictured: Ederson won the Champions League while playing for Manchester City.
History will record how Pep Guardiola changed football in England. But here he needed Ederson to do the same. As he leaves Manchester City, the Brazilian celebrates his role as one of the most important footballers of the modern era.
There are better goalkeepers than Ederson. Not many, but they exist. Statistics show that he has prevented more goals than you would expect in his entire Premier League career. This matches his athletic frame, which is capable of impressive results.
But he doesn’t top the list. That honour goes to Alisson Becker, his compatriot, long-time teammate and rival. Alisson has better shot control. But even his signing by Liverpool can be seen as a response to the way Ederson was changing the game.
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Guardiola had already tried to introduce a ball-playing goalkeeper, signing Claudio Bravo immediately after his arrival at City, but failed, displacing Joe Hart. But the Chilean had struggled to establish himself in the Premier League. Ederson was different.
He exuded composure, unnerving the crowd and commentators, but never seemed to let his guard down. His ability on the ball was the cornerstone of City's success in the years to come. Guardiola was an architect, but he needed materials.
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In 2023, while chatting to Ederson at City’s training ground, I had the chance to ask him where his exceptional passing ability came from. “Futsal really helped,” he told Sky Sports. “You have to stay calm, make the right decisions, choose the right passes.”
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As a kid playing futsal, Ederson was part of the game, not just standing between the posts watching it unfold. “Because the pitch is small, you play under pressure most of the time. It makes the feeling of calm more natural,” he explained.
Sometimes you can hear the crowd take a deep breath when the game gets dangerous. But I can't lose my concentration. I have to stay cool. It helps me make the right decisions when the opponent is pressing and my job is to find the open player.
And Manchester City always had a free man thanks to Ederson. He became an extra defender, which is all City needed. Guardiola’s positional play was too good for the pressing systems that had developed in the Premier League in 2017.
Speaking to one respected coach, he said: “I remember Edwin van der Sar starting in goal, but not the way we were used to seeing Ederson.” Another, the great goalkeeping coach Frans Hoek, who worked with van der Sar at Ajax and Guardiola at Barcelona, agreed.
Last season, when talking to Hook about Ederson, he showed him a video of City playing. “Is it a 4-3-4 or a 3-5-3? Who would have thought 15 years ago that you would have a goalkeeper in front of two centre-backs? The game always teaches.”
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But the short pass was only part of the puzzle. He recalls a conversation with a manager who was then working with a Premier League opponent. “With Ederson you could hit the ball 70 yards behind the defence and create a new dynamic to develop.”
Guardiola understood this from the start. It made Ederson stand out. Other goalkeepers emerged who could confidently pass to the nearest player. This one was the one who could find the farthest one.
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“Guys, what is this?” Guardiola said as he began watching the analysis of his team's match before Bayern's Champions League quarter-final against Benfica in 2016. It was the first time he had seen Ederson shoot on goal.
The following year they played together at City, and Guardiola belatedly recognised Bravo's limitations. “Now we have a chance to move the ball into the other box,” he explained. It won the team six Premier League titles and one Champions League trophy.
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Watch Ederson's assists for Manchester City in the Premier League. Datawrapper. This content is provided by Datawrapper, which may use cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your consent to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to change your settings and enable Datawrapper cookies or allow them to be used just once. You can change your settings at any time in your privacy settings. Sorry, we couldn't check if you consented to Datawrapper's use of cookies. To view this content, you can use the button below to allow Datawrapper cookies for this session only. Enable cookies Allow cookies once
Ederson's long balls have allowed him to make seven assists in the Premier League, more than double the number of any other goalkeeper during his time in England. Like a fast bowler's shot, the pass remains a weapon in his arsenal, threatening to influence the opposition's actions.
If Guardiola had noticed it in the scouting reports when he was at Bayern, it was the assist for Raul Jimenez in Ederson's final game for Benfica, the Portuguese club's title-winning goal, that confirmed why City wanted him. There was reason to ask about that, too.
“Raúl was always going to the last man, trying to get through as quickly as possible,” Ederson replied. “I was always trying to get him the ball quickly, so I was happy to do it in such an important game that brought us the title. I'm always happy to contribute with assists.”
Under Guardiola, he often worked on it. “We trained a lot, especially in the first year when I arrived. In the second game against Tottenham in pre-season, Sergio Aguero hit the post. It was a good sign for the future.”
It added a new dimension to the game. “It’s really useful against teams that press high because they leave space behind that we can exploit. It’s a great weapon because it gives us variety. We can play short, medium or long lines.”
All good things must come to an end, and Ederson lasted long enough to see his style of play copied by other Premier League players, including City's James Trafford, though he never surpassed it. He's gone. But his legacy in English football lives on.
Sourse: skysports.com
