Oct 12, 2024, 04:00 AM ET
Brazil goalkeeper Ederson has said he is honoured to be a part of Pep Guardiola’s project at Manchester City but admits the Spanish coach can be “sometimes annoying.”
Éderson, on international duty with Brazil, has worked under Guardiola since 2017 and won 18 titles, including six Premier League titles and one Champions League trophy.
While taking part in an event for Children’s Day in Brazil, Ederson was asked by one child if Guardiola is nice, annoying or angry.
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“You’re going to get me in trouble,” Éderson, 31, told ESPN Brasil. “He’s all three … He’s a nice guy, he’s sometimes annoying, in the sense of [being] demanding, because he has to [be] demanding to a professional [player], and he’s also angry when he has to be angry.
“So he has a mixture of all three. But he’s a nice guy off the pitch, and he’s a very, very demanding guy on it. And he’s also a guy who gets angry like any other person, like any other coach, when things don’t go well, when the team doesn’t play well.
“Of course, we know that we’re not going to be able to play 70 games at a brilliant level, of course, in one game or another, there’s going to be a dip.”
Since arriving at City in the summer of 2016, Guardiola has been named Premier League manager of the season five times.
Under Guardiola, City became in 2023 the only English club in history to hold all five trophies — Champions League, Premier League and England FA Cup, Super Cup, Club World Cup — in a calendar year.
Guardiola had previously achieved success in impressive stints with Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
Éderson believes Guardiola has changed Premier League football.
“I’ve been able to play a big part in the project,” he said. “You take everything Guardiola has built up with the group, with the squad and everything he’s been able to reformulate practically. You see every Premier League game today, how the teams try to play more football, have more possession, it’s completely different from when he arrived.
“So to be able to be part of this project and achieve everything I’ve achieved, I feel very honoured, it really is a childhood dream.”
Éderson, meanwhile, has faced talented opposition but admitted he was relieved when England forward Harry Kane left Tottenham to join Bayern Munich in the summer of 2023.
“Man, I’ve faced a few strikers, especially in the Premier League,” Éderson said. “But I think the most difficult one, the one I’ve seen with the most quality, is Harry Kane.
“He has an absurd quality, both inside the box and outside, when he comes out to receive play, he has a lot of quality.
“So, from my point of view, he was one of the best strikers I’ve ever faced.”
