David De Gea produced another moment of brilliance on Monday night when he acrobatically saved Christian Benteke’s header.
Manchester United fans have become accustomed to De Gea saving their side precious points when it matters and many football fans across the world regard him as the best shot stopper on the planet. However, a goalkeeper on the other side of Manchester has also been grabbing the headlines this season.
Manchester City’s Ederson has been a sensation since his move from Benfica and many City fans would argue that he is irreplaceable, so much so that not even De Gea could take his spot.
The argument stems from one major attribute that Ederson boosts over De Gea, distribution.
If you are a goalkeeper and want to play for Pep Guardiola, it is vital you can play out from the back. We saw first hand the negative side to this tactic when Claudio Bravo suffered frequently in games and teams started to target the former City number one. It has been a completely different case this season though and Ederson has been crucial to Manchester City’s success. His ability to distribute the ball has given City a new dimension this season and has also calmed the nerves of the defense in front of him.
Pass completion
- Ederson boasts an 87% pass completion rate.
- De Gea is at 59%.
When you compare the two, you can see that there’s more life to this argument than you might’ve first imagined.
Ederson has completed 508 successful passes, with De Gea managing just over half that number (255). These numbers would suggest that maybe De Gea, right now, would struggle to slot into the Manchester City side and adapt to the approach that Guardiola demands.
Of course, playing under Jose Mourinho, De Sea doesn’t have the same licence to play out from the back as Ederson and that skews his stats but the City stopper is prolific.
The other side of the argument that Manchester United fans will surely point out is that, when it comes down to it, who saves the most shots? De Gea has saved 85 shots so far this season. In comparison, Ederson has saved 43 attempts on goal.
Ironically, City fans could argue for the same reasons now, that a goalkeeper under Guardiola has less shots to deal with than a defensive approach under Jose Mourinho.
In saying that, De Gea has kept 15 clean sheets. This is better than Ederson’s 13 and the Spaniard averages four saves per goal while Ederson averages two. These statistics are of course enough to swing the debate in De Gea’s favour if that is all you expect your goalkeeper to do.
De Gea may be the better shot stopper but Ederson offers so much more than just stopping shots.
Guardiola’s philosophy is admired across the world and his goalkeepers are a big part of this. If given the opportunity to swap Ederson for De Gea I could guarantee he would refuse. If you want to play from the back your goalkeeper needs to distribute the ball in a positive manner.
When City completed the signing of Ederson, they would have been aware of a unique attribute that he had in his locker, long goal kicks. Ederson has notched an assist on his resume with one of these kicks in a game for Benfica against Guimaraes. He very nearly did the same in pre-season game for city against Spurs. Attributes like this are why this argument defiantly has legs and should not be dismissed on sight.
Ederson has had two errors leading to goals this season which is more than De Gea has managed in the last three seasons. Guardiola accepts that his goalkeepers will make mistakes but the overall benefits of his style of play are worth it and who can argue with him with the success he has had this season.
There is no doubt about it that De Gea deserves the plaudits he gets. After a rocky start to life in England, he has established himself as a superstar and has been Manchester United’s best player for many seasons. He consistently leaves viewers flabbergasted with his array of saves. Ederson has a long way to go to reach the levels that De Gea has but he is certainly on the right track.
Portugal legend Nuno Gomes believes that he is already at this level and described Ederson as one of the top three goalkeepers in the world. This is high praise and with only this season of playing at a high level in Europe maybe it is unwarranted. That is not to say that this won’t be the case for Ederson in years to come.
Whatever side of the fence you are on we can definitely agree that Manchester is home to two of the finest goalkeepers in Europe. De Gea is an established superstar and Ederson’s stock continues to rise. I can assure you as Ederson continues to develop his game this argument will be brought to the table more often.
This article was written by Shaun Stephens.
