Manchester, June 8 (IANS) Having joined Manchester City on a six-year deal, Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson Moraes is looking forward to a successful stint with the former English Premier League (EPL) champions.
Manchester City announced on Thursday that they have signed the former Brazil U-23 player from Portuguese club Benfica on a six-year contract. He will start training with the squad on July 1.
Benfica had announced last week that they had agreed to the transfer deal for a fee of $44.9 million.
The deal makes the 23-year-old the second most expensive goalkeeper of all-time after Italian legend and Juventus icon Gianluigi Buffon.
"I like everything about Manchester City. This is a great club, the league they have here in England and they have amazing fans and they play splendid football. I have always had the dream to play in English football and now I'm going to make it true," Ederson was quoted as saying by Manchester City's official website on Thursday.
"With Pep Guardiola, City are growing more and more. He is putting in place a young team for the future. Those were important factors in making my decision.
"Manchester City has an amazing squad. I think they managed to have a good season. Next season, we will have to be focused to achieve the goal of winning trophies," he added.
Ederson started his football career in 2008 at Brazilian club S?o Paulo FC with whom he played one season, before joining Benfica.
At the age of 16, he spent two years as a junior with the reigning Portugal champions before leaving for Second Division side Ribeir?o in 2011.
A year later, he joined Rio Ave in Portugal's top division. In summer 2012, he officially signed a contract with the Primeira Liga side.
In May 2015, following a string of good performances and a call-up to the Brazil under-23 squad, he signed a new contract with the club that was supposed to last until 2019.
However, only a couple of months into the new deal, Ederson officially signed a five-year contract with Benfica in a transfer worth 5,00,000 euros ($5,61,217) in July, 2015.
(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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