It has always been known that besides being a great shot stopper, Ederson also attracted Pep Guardiola’s attention for being good with his feet.
The rumours appeared as Guardiola arrived at Manchester City, when the Portuguese press claimed he was impressed with the goalkeeper’s display against Bayern Munich the season before. That theory was later confirmed in England.
And Ederson has the right inspiration for it. The Brazilian, who played for São Paulo for a few years, claims that his idol is Rogério Ceni, the goalkeeper who scored more goals in his club career than many outfield players do.
The 24-year-old told UOL this week: “He’s my only idol and is always going to be my main inspiration. I still see a lot of his videos, both of saves and passes, the quality he had was impressive.”
Ederson also told the story about the time when he had the chance to meet Ceni during preparations for the Copa America 2016, a tournament which he was unable to play due to an injury: “It was the first time I could meet him. Well, I was astonished to see my idol in front of me.
“I was speechless ‘hey, it’s Rogério Ceni!’ He is a good person, a great professional and I continue to support his managerial career.”
Ederson made his national team debut in São Paulo last week, and talked about how special it was for him: “It’s going to be marked forever in my memory, because I had the opportunity to play in my city, with all my family watching.
“It was another objective achieved in my career that made me very happy. Although we already had the qualification, we played with the same seriousness and with the aim to win.”
São Paulo fans all have great memories of Rogério Ceni, including the beautiful and decisive free-kicks he used to score. But the number one moment has actually been against a Premier League club.
