Manchester City were not too busy in the summer, but one player has now been speaking about how close he came to departing.
Manchester City sanctioned only one major outgoing in the last transfer window.
After lots of speculation, Julian Alvarez left Man City to join Atletico Madrid for a fee north of £80 million.
The Alvarez sale is some of Txiki Begiristain’s finest work, after the Argentine was brought in for just £14 million just two years earlier.
There were suggestions that Kevin De Bruyne might have gone too, with clubs in Saudi Arabia very keen on the Belgian. In the end, nothing materialised.
And then there was Ederson, who was also strongly linked with a move to Saudi.
Al-Ittihad made an approach for Ederson but couldn’t get a deal over the line. He ended up staying, and has now shared the role Pep Guardiola played in keeping him at the club.
Ederson shares what Pep Guardiola said to keep him at Man City
Ederson is currently on international duty with Brazil, and played in the 2-1 win over Chile earlier this week.
He has found time to conduct an interview with TNT Sports Brasil, who asked the player about the events of the summer and the speculation about a move to Saudi.
Ederson, who cost City £35 million, admits there was a proposal, but says Guardiola convinced him to stay put.
He said: “I really had a proposal on the table, something that weighed a lot, because it was an unusual proposal.
“I had numerous conversations with Guardiola, and one of them was paramount. But from what he told me, the guarantees, the process and the evolution I had with him.
“All of this was paramount for my stay at City.”
During his interview, Ederson also backed Vinicius Jr for the Ballon d’Or over Rodri.
Ederson could leave Man City next summer
It was a big boost for City that Ederson did not leave the club for Saudi Arabia in the last window.
We now know that there was a definite attempt to lure him, and reports have suggested Ederson was keen to move to Saudi.
But Guardiola evidently said all the right things to ensure he did not depart. Perhaps the Man City manager talked up the prospect of making history and winning a fifth Premier League title in a row.
Or maybe Guardiola mentioned how Ederson could potentially reach a nice round number of 20 trophies to his name. Currently, the Brazilian has won 18 trophies since signing for the club in 2017.
| Ederson for Manchester City (all competitions) |
| Appearances – 341 |
| Clean sheets – 157 |
| Goals conceded – 266 |
| Trophies won – 18 |
But there is just a feeling that Ederson may not be sticking around for too much longer.
Obviously, Stefan Ortega signed a new contract a few months ago and the German may not have done that had he not been given some kind of assurances about becoming number one.
Ederson is likely to have interest from Saudi again next summer, and he knows how much he could earn by playing there.
