Pep Guardiola doubles down on Ederson’s importance amid Galatasaray negotiations | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has maintained that Ederson remains a key member of the dressing room amid talk of a move to Turkey.

Ederson has been linked with a transfer to Galatasaray in the final weeks of the transfer window, with the Turkish giants presenting an opening €10 million offer for the 31-year-old goalkeeper to Manchester City at the weekend.

City do not wish to sell Ederson but would be willing to accept a bid in the region of €35 million for the Brazil international, who is into the final year of his current deal at the Etihad Stadium.

The former Benfica man, who joined Manchester City in 2017, was excluded from the travelling squad for his side’s Premier League opening win over Wolves at the weekend, with Guardiola citing stomach problems to explain Ederson’s absence.

After starting in a pre-season win over Palermo a few weeks ago, James Trafford retained his spot between the sticks and recorded a clean sheet on his first senior appearance for Manchester City, whom he rejoined this summer for £27 million after two seasons at Burnley.

Reflecting on Trafford’s Manchester City debut in the 4-0 rout of Wolves, Guardiola said: “Yeah, Academy from many, many years and playing the first Premier League game away with a clean sheet and he (Trafford) made a good, good performance, made good saves.

“He (Trafford) is tall, his presence is really good, and I think the people love a lot, likes a lot to have a home grown player from the academy playing with us.

“It’s really good. People identify with Phil (Foden), with Nico (O’Reilly), all the players that come [from] there, it’s nice.”

Manchester City have identified Paris Saint-Germain outcast Gianluigi Donnarumma as an ideal signing should Ederson complete a move to Galatasaray in the final fortnight of the summer transfer window.

However, when quizzed upon whether Trafford could step up if Ederson was to leave, Guardiola added: “Ederson is my player. He’s our player. Ederson has been the keeper of the six Premier Leagues in seven years.

“He (Ederson) is the keeper of the Champions League and he won it, saving in Madrid (2023 semi-final), and the Final (against Inter in 2023) in the last minutes. He’s the player that played during nine years, every single game.

“So he (Ederson) deserves beyond, beyond respect. I’m the manager, all the success we had thanks to a few of these players and Eddie (Ederson) is one of them. Today (against Wolves) he would have played, the problem he had he was ill. What happened? I don’t know.”

After failing to engineer a desired move to Saudi Arabia last summer, Ederson remains keen on a new challenge after eight seasons in England as negotiations continue between Galatasaray and Manchester City.

“There was rumours two years ago, it was in Saudi (Arabia) and at the end, (Ederson has) been with us,” Guardiola said. “Always he has behaved unbelievably. And the club has to have always two or three good keepers.

“And look at Stefan Ortega who is here in that position, and hopefully we can find a solution, but Stefan gave us the league (in 2024) saving (from Heung-Min) Son in Spurs away in that moment – who always played played really good. So that’s why we’re lucky to have really, really good keepers.”