Whispers had gone around that Manchester City’s number one golakeeper Ederson had previously been linked with a move away from the Club this summer but boss Pep Guardiola was quick, and most relieved, to confirm that the Brazilian will start in Saturday’s Community Shield final against Manchester United at Wembley Stadium.
Meanwhile, Ortega Moreno had agreed to a contract extension this summer after an impressive end to his 2023/24 campaign, committing his future to City until 2026.
Guardiola is extremely pleased that both these two incredible options are remaining to be at his disposal between the sticks.
He said: “It’s a huge relief that Eddie [Ederson] and Stefan [Ortega Moreno] stay.
“You can’t understand this unbelievable process we’ve lived these many, many years without Ederson, it’s impossible.
“His charisma, his consistency and to replace the keeper always is tricky with the way we play and many things.
“So, I’m really pleased he’s staying and, of course Stefan. congratulations he deserves the contract, not for the save against Spurs but for the [whole] two years, how good he’s been in the cup competitions.
“Now they play for one position… both of them are going to play a lot of minutes.”
The City boss also touched on City’s attacking options ahead of their 2024/25 curtain-raiser and how the team should be adapting when Erling Haaland is rested.
The Spaniard heaped praised the Norwegian for the way he’s been able to maintain his conditioning consistently across the past two seasons, having recovered from a slight twitch in their pre-season friendly against Barcelona to score a hat-trick against Chelsea.
While Pep is confident that City have everything at theirr disposal to continue firing on all cylinders should Haaland be unavailable, he also hinted that decisions on further recruits could be made later in the transfer window.
“I don’t know, we have alternatives. We will see if we need someone,” he added.
“We have really good players who can play there. Of course, if Erling [Haaland] doesn’t play his particular skills we don’t have this replacement but we have alternatives.
“We will see until the end of the market if we really need a striker just in case [we need a] backup for Erling.
“Erling is not going to play all the schedule we have ahead of us. With all the games he won’t be able to play all of them. We have to think about it if we have another solution.
“Last season was just a bone in the foot. That’s why he wasn’t usual. Muscular, some niggles but we handled it really well since he arrived.
“I don’t remember maybe a real muscular injury or issues but of course a lot of games every three four days and I’ve said many times he’s massive.
“To recover, for Phil Foden it’s much quicker, for him for his body we take care of him differently.
“What happened in the States, he made one week here before he travelled on the tour of the United States of America.
“He has some niggles and last game against Chelsea he felt better and we are going to take care of him like the other ones.”