City snaps up Ederson from Benfica for record British 'keeper fee of £34.9M

Pep Guardiola won't make the same mistake again.

After an opening season in English football which saw his entrusted No. 1, Claudio Bravo, flounder between the posts and eventually relinquish duties to the now-departed deputy Willy Caballero, the Spaniard dug deep into Manchester City's cash reserves on Thursday to make Ederson Moraes the most expensive goalkeeper in British football history.

The fee to prize him from Benfica was €40 million (£34.9 million), which, according to the Guardian's Marcus Christenson, marks a British record fee for a goalkeeper.

Ederson is yet to make his full international debut for his native Brazil, and the price for the deal is believed to have been bloated by the fact that his former club, Rio Ave, still owned half of his economic rights, but Benfica still wanted a lofty sum for its share.

The 23-year-old kept 22 clean sheets in the 2016-17 season as he won a league and cup double with Benfica, adding to his Primeira Liga medal from the previous term. Through his ball-playing skills, aerial dominance, and speed of thought, Ederson has drawn comparisons to Manuel Neuer. His awareness is also key in crafting quick attacks, as his monstrous assist for Raul Jimenez in a 5-0 beating of Vitoria Guimaraes earlier in May demonstrated.

It was a lack of proficiency in passing that saw English international Joe Hart cast off shortly after Guardiola's arrival at City last summer, and will surely see him sold in this transfer window upon his return from a season-long loan with Torino in Serie A.

Bravo was signed by City as Hart's replacement, but appeared unsettled by the media attention garnered by him usurping the four-time Golden Glove winner. The Chilean struggled, and belied his reputation by sometimes hitting it aimlessly long or squandering possession with short passes, and will likely be demoted to second-choice to make way for a youngster who seems to revel playing as a sweeper-keeper.

Ederson is the latest in a lengthening line of youthful players that have joined Guardiola's revolution in the northwest. Leroy Sane, John Stones, and Gabriel Jesus highlighted the buys of the ex-Barcelona and Bayern Munich gaffer's first season, while the purchases of Monaco's Bernardo Silva and Ederson in the opening days of this summer window have followed that trend.