Ederson's wife makes telling comment over Man City man's future amid Saudi interest

Ederson’s wife has slammed a claim that the Manchester City goalkeeper was affected by praise of his No. 2 Stefan Ortega last season. The Brazilian has been linked with an exit from the Premier League champions this summer but Lais Moraes insists he is not unhappy at the club.

Ederson has been Pep Guardiola’s No 1 goalkeeper ever since his 2017 transfer from Benfica. However, he was forced to miss the final game of last season due to concussion.

The 30-year-old suffered a head injury during City’s crucial 2-0 victory over Tottenham in May. Ortega, Ederson’s replacement, made an excellent save to deny Son Heung-min, a stop that was deemed to have been key in Guardiola’s side fending off competition for the title from Arsenal.

It has been claimed by The Athletic that Ederson was affected by praise for Ortega’s performances, including some suggestions by City fans that he would not have saved Son’s attempt. However, his wife Lais has labelled that as ‘fake news’.

Responding to an Instagram post from fan account @City_Xtra which regurgitated the information, she wrote: “Get better information first, this is totally fake news.”

Ederson has been linked with a switch to Saudi Arabia. Al-Nassr are rumoured to be interested in a potential deal, although City are likely to hold out for a fee of at least £50million.

His City team-mate Kevin De Bruyne is also attracting interest from the Saudi Pro League, which will once again be willing to spend huge fees on the best players in Europe. De Bruyne did not rule out a surprise exit from the Etihad Stadium while playing for Belgium at Euro 2024.

However, Guardiola insists that the playmaker will remain at the club this season. That is despite the 33-year-old entering the final year of his contract.

“Kevin isn’t leaving,” Guardiola said in the United States ahead of City’s 4-3 defeat by Celtic earlier this week.

The City boss also insisted that his squad is likely to look very similar to the one which lifted the Premier League trophy in May, potentially ruling out any major signings. Exciting Brazilian winger Savinho, 20, is the club’s only addition, arriving from City Football Group-owned Troyes in a £20m move.

“If someone leaves, we are going to talk about that and, of course, until the last day [of the transfer window] we have chances,” Guardiola continued.

“I don’t rule out new players as an option, but I think there is an 85, 90, 95 per cent chance we will have the same squad.”