Benfica goalie Ederson bound for City
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BENFICA sold goalkeeper Ederson Moraes to Manchester City for 40 million euros (US$45 million) yesterday, making the Brazilian the second most expensive goalkeeper of all time.
The fee has only been eclipsed by the 53 million euros that Juventus paid Parma for Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in 2001.
Benfica said in a statement that half of the fee for Moraes will go to third parties, including the 23-year-old keeper’s former Portuguese team, Rio Ave.
City has not confirmed the transfer.
The goalkeeper position has been a problem for City manager Pep Guardiola since he arrived at the English club during the last offseason. Guardiola signed Claudio Bravo from Barcelona after deciding long-time City keeper Joe Hart wasn’t technically good enough to carry out his preferred approach of playing the ball out from the back. Hart was sent on loan to Italian club Torino.
Bravo struggled with his shot-stopping and handling, and ended up being dropped for Willy Caballero, only to be restored to the team late in the season.
Caballero will be one of four players to be released this month at the end of his contract, so Bravo will fight for a starting spot with the Moraes, who has played for Brazil’s under-23 side but not the country’s senior team.
It is City’s second big signing of the offseason. It bought attacking midfielder Bernardo Silva from Monaco for a reported 43 million pounds (US$55 million).
Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid’s transfer ban was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport yesterday, hurting Manchester United’s hopes of signing France forward Antoine Griezmann.
The FIFA ban prevents Atletico from registering new players until January. Atletico had lined up Lyon forward Alexandre Lacazette as a potential replacement for Griezmann.
“This ruling is unfair and causes an irreparable damage to our club,” Atletico said in a statement.
FIFA imposed a one-year ban on Atletico last year for signing dozens of youth players in breach of rules that prevent international child trafficking and luring youngsters from their home country. Atletico denied wrongdoing, though it agreed not to sign players in the January transfer window while its appeal at CAS went ahead.
Atletico can still sell Griezmann with United having been ready to pay a release clause in his contract reportedly of more than 100 million euros.
But Atletico would have to cope with only its existing players through the group stage of the UEFA Champions League and first half of the league season before it could add to its squad.
Atletico joins Barcelona and Real Madrid in serving transfer bans after signing youngsters from around the world.
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