From Sam Lee: Sources reveal expectation surrounding future of Manchester City’s Ederson

There had been an expectation towards the end of last season surrounding the future of Manchester City’s goalkeeping number one Ederson, a new report has revealed.

The future of the Brazilian international was plunged into doubt towards the end of Manchester City’s latest Premier League victory, and largely in light of increased game time and opportunities for back-up goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.

The German shot-stopper was called upon several times during the most recently-concluded season, in addition to his usual duties as a cup competition goalkeeper, with significant outings against the likes of Real Madrid, Chelsea, and Liverpool across competitions.

But with Ortega having renewed his Manchester City contract by a further year, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2026, many are beginning to wonder what that could mean for first-choice Ederson amid strong interest from the Middle-East.

The latest report to emerge concerning the 30-year-old claims that there is more than a chance of one of the Premier League’s finest-ever goalkeepers bringing an end to his time with the club and taking up a new challenge outside of Europe.

That is according to information provided by The Athletic’s Sam Lee, who quotes sources close to Manchester City’s Ederson who had been ‘expecting him to make the switch’ to Saudi Arabia towards the end of last season.

Despite that feeling from within the Ederson camp, it is made clear that the Premier League champions do want to keep their number one choice between the sticks, despite Stefan Ortega’s recently-extended contractual agreement.

Ederson is widely viewed by Manchester City supporters as having a transformational effect on the way the club plays its football, having first joined the team from Portuguese side SL Benfica in the summer of 2017.

Guardiola’s arrival at City one season prior saw the Catalan head coach remove Joe Hart from his side almost immediately, feeling that while he admired the work of the Englishman, he could not provide the ball-playing abilities expected of his side.

Claudio Bravo and Willy Caballero would act as City’s goalkeepers for the 2016/17 season, before Ederson would be recruited one year later and go on to hold the number one slot for the last seven years.