Manchester City are still keeping an eye on 23 year old Benfica goalkeeper Ederson, according to the Portuguese media.
The interest in the player has been reported since the end of last season, when Pep Guardiola was still looking for a replacement for Joe Hart.
It first happened when Benfica faced Bayern Munich for the Champions League, and after a very good performance from the goalkeeper, the manager made public compliments to him.
But it seems the transfer wasn’t enough, as O Jogo reports today that City officials went to watch the Benfica star again last week during a Champions League match against Besiktas.
The English side were confirmed on the list of clubs who had sent scouts to the match, but no outlets had reported who they were watching at the time.
It’s a bit strange that their target was revealed so much later, especially because the information is only published as a side story to City’s interest in the left-back Alex Grimaldo.
Despite all these doubts, Ederson is a signing which would make sense for the club. He’s ten years younger than Claudio Bravo and has shown quality by sending the experienced Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar to Benfica’s bench.
Ederson has a €35m release clause, but Benfica own only 50% of his economic rights, since the other half is split between his old club Rio Ave and Jorge Mendes’ company Gestifute. Recent reports from Portugal said the club president Luis Filipe Vieira wanted a total of at least €20m to let him go.
Manchester City already have highly rated 20 year old goalkeeper Angus Gunn, but there’s no harm seeing what other prospects are coming through.
