Joe Hart signed a season-long loan at West Ham this week.
A couple of days on, Pep Guardiola’s second attempt to replace Hart was making his bow for Manchester City.
Almost a year ago the then newly-appointed City boss saw fit to bring Claudio Bravo to Manchester, sending Hart for a season on loan to Torino.
The move backfired. Although City won their derby match against United at Old Trafford in September, Bravo’s error allowed Zlatan Ibrahimovic to score for United. Later on, the Chilean was fortunate not to concede a penalty for a challenge on Wayne Rooney after attempting to control the ball with his feet.
With the spotlight immediately on him, Bravo went on to make a string of errors throughout the season and was eventually dropped in favour of stand-in goalkeeper, Willy Caballero.
For the second summer running, it was clear City would be in the market for a new goalkeeper.
Ederson Santana de Moraes, known simply as Ederson, arrived from Benfica at the start of the month. The £34.7m fee City forked out for the uncapped Brazilian was more than the amount Juventus paid for Gianluigi Buffon 16 years ago, meaning the 23-year-old is now the most expensive goalkeeper in footballing history. No pressure.
Like Bravo, Ederson faced Manchester United in his first appearance for the club – the preseason friendly between the two clubs in Houston.
In fairness to the young ‘keeper, he did make several decent saves in the match, but the error he made for Romelu Lukaku’s opening goal was pounced upon by many of those watching.
Ederson raced from his area when Paul Pogba lofted a pass over the top for Lukaku, mistakenly believing he could beat the Belgian to the ball. He didn’t, and although the new United number nine was forced slightly wider than he would’ve liked, he had no problem steering the ball home from an acute angle.
https://twitter.com/mbukachevsky13/status/888229681631301633
Ederson making terrible mistakes on his Debut, Joe Hart is still laughing at Pep 😂
— Austin Schoeninger (@Schoeninger95) July 21, 2017
Hahahaha man city and their goalkeepers… Was that ederson in goals or bravo still😂😂😂😂😂😂 where the hell was he going😂😂😂
— Zed (@Zeddd07) July 21, 2017
ederson looking like a young claudio bravo for that first goal
— George Wood (@georgewood_me) July 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/ObsCesced/status/888237166077325314
Granted Joe Hart's not exactly a world beater but IMAGINE getting binned off for those two clowns, Bravo and Ederson!#MUFC #ManchesterDerby
— theshadow (@theshaadow1) July 21, 2017
Lol don't tell me that's the most expensive keeper, Ederson 😂😂
Bravo extension… wonderful
— Maven (@Ayoolu_wa) July 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/peskynomad/status/888232014968573952
Not the ideal start…
