Manchester City star Ederson is the best passing goalkeeper the game has ever seen.
That is the big claim from City great Paul Lake, who made the remark in the official programme of the FA Cup final.
The game really did change for City when the Brazilian signed for the club for £35 million in 2017.
City fans had to watch Claudio Bravo in Pep Guardiola’s first season.
While the Chilean was playing the way Pep wanted, he would often make really bad mistakes.
So a decision was made to sign Ederson – and the club have never looked back. He has quite simply been one of the most important signings in the club’s history.
It became apparent very quickly that Ederson’s ball-playing ability for a goalkeeper was special.
He is able to pick out all kinds of passes, and it is often said that he is like a midfield player when he’s on the ball.
Ederson very rarely punts the ball long. But even when he does that, it tends to be an accurate pass.
We have seen a few times during his time at City, his ability to get the ball right up top and get a player through on goal.
Ederson was not involved against Manchester United in the FA Cup final. Stefan Ortega played instead, with Pep showing loyalty to the German as his cup ‘keeper.
Ortega really impressed with his distribution, and it’s likely he will have learned a lot from training with Ederson.
In the official programme on Saturday, former City great Paul Lake said of Ederson: “He’s the best passer of a ball as a goalkeeper the game has ever seen. When I bump into former City goalkeepers Joe Corrigan and Alex Williams, they all say the same. He can float a pass and make it look like he’s flying a drone! And let’s not forget what an excellent shot-stopper he is.”
Pundit Gabby Agbonlahor said recently that he would have loved to play with Ederson. He said as a striker he would relish latching onto some of his passes.
Manchester City star Ederson probably is the best passing goalkeeper the game has ever seen
This is a big claim from Lake, but thinking about it, he is probably right.
Another goalkeeper who can pass the ball as well as Ederson does not spring to mind.
There are plenty of good ball-playing goalkeepers abut nowadays. That is to be expected given how many teams are playing out from the back.
But no one has the range of the City number one.
It is truly remarkable how good his distribution is and actually a major weapon, too.
And Lake is right to mention his shot stopping. That attribute of his does kind of get lost because of how good he is on the ball.
