The Portuguese press have been far ahead on Ederson to Manchester City since the start. Pep Guardiola interest in the goalkeeper has been reported all season, even at times it’s felt like assumption.
More recently, Manchester United have also been linked with Ederson, but with David De Gea still at Old Trafford and not quite looking like his exit is inevitable, the club have been hamstrung in moving for a replacement.
That’s left the Ederson route clear and open for Manchester City, because there aren’t many clubs who need such a goalkeeper and could pay the money involved.
On May 13th, A Bola reported that Ederson looked set to play his last home game for Benfica, against Vitoria de Guimarães at the Estadio da Luz, with Manchester City circling for a transfer.
A few days later, Correio da Manhã published an interesting story about Rio Ave’s 50% share of Ederson’s registration. When the goalkeeper signed for Benfica in summer 2015, part of the cut-price transfer ensured Rio Ave 50% of any future sale.
Correio da Manhã reported an offer from Benfica to buy Rio Ave out, ahead of an expected Manchester City approach. However, the Lisbon club offered just €5m, described as an ‘insult’, and were subsequently laughed out of town.
On May 20th, Record reported that Manchester City had the player ‘reserved’, and he would be leaving for less than his €60m release clause. Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira had travelled to England for talks, and Ederson was being lined up as the club’s first big summer sale.
The big push forward was on Saturday morning, 27th May, when Record published an article saying Manchester City had ‘secured’ the player and the deal would be completed in the ‘next few days’.
Ederson to Manchester City being imminent was covered widely in Portugal very early on Saturday morning, and it was clear the transfer update had been pushed around the Portuguese media the night before.
In Monday’s Record, published late on Sunday, aside from celebrating Benfica’s cup final victory, it’s explained Ederson will arrive in Manchester today for his medical, and the player himself is quoted as saying: “I still don’t know, but probably this was my last game with the Benfica shirt.”
Monday’s edition of A Bola also reports Ederson’s imminent travel to Manchester, and the newspaper points out their March report which said Pep Guiardiola had telephoned the goalkeeper to sweet-talk him into the move.
The reporting of the fee started off at €45m, but the Portuguese media are quite happy to see English reports stating the amount as higher. With great pride in how Portuguese clubs do transfer business, any higher fee will gladly be grasped, even if the Portuguese media suspect it’s inaccurate.
Transfer claims from the Portuguese media get a lot of stick, sometimes with good reason, but they’ve been first and clearest on Ederson to Manchester City.
