Man City could sign their next Yaya Toure as ‘high-energy’ star worth £42m

2025 is likely to be a year of great transition Manchester City.

Pep Guardiolathe team is currently sixth in the Premier Leaguedespite consecutive victories over Leicester and then West Hamwith the manager asserting themselves on their side “at risk” of leaking Champions League qualification.

With many of the Citizens’ most prominent players, Kyle Walker, John Stones, İlkay Gündoğan, Mateo Kovačić, Bernardo Silva and, most notably, Kevin De Bruyne, now in their 30s, the team could undergo a massive overhaul as well.

Well, after he actually made £126m in the transfer market last summer, thanks to the sale Julián Álvarez (81.5 million pounds), João Cancelo (21 million pounds)Liam Delap (20 million pounds) and Taylor Harwood-Bellis (20 million pounds), the Sky Blues should have room to spend big in 2025.

Another Éderson potentially on his way to Man City

Reports from Spain claimed in December that Manchester had ‘made contact’ with Atalanta in their pursuit of midfielder Éderson. However, this week, Fabrizio Romano revealed to GIVEMESPORTthat “it is very difficult to sign Ederson [moving] in January for a fee of over €50m (£42m) needed to take him in the summer.

Improve reports from Italy noted that Real Madrid, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus are also interested in his services, so Man City could find themselves in something of a bidding war.

So who is Éderson and why is he in such high demand?

Why Ederson would be a good signing for Manchester City

The 25-year-old went through several Brazilian clubs, including Cruzeiro, Corinthians and Fortaleza, before moving to Serie A side Salernitana in January 2022, although he only spent six months at I Granata as Atalanta quickly recognized his talents, signed him for 15 million euros next summer.

Midfielder he made 115 appearances for la Dea, a key figure as Gian Piero Gasperini’s team won the Europa League last season, while the Nerazzurri are currently second in the Serie A table, trying to win their first ever Scudetto.

Gasperini he said it himself Éderson “isn’t just a midfielder; he’s the heart of our system,” emphasizing his importance, while being a data analyst Ben Mattinson on Twitter added that he is a “high energy medium”.

Interesting comparisons have been made before suggesting that Éderson is a bit like mainstay Yaya Touré, adding that the Brazilian “actually shows better rebounding skills”, so let’s see how the duo compare.

Well, the first thing to note is that both are physical players. Really, Alex Barker of Athletic highlighted Éderson’s three best qualities are his “strong aerial win rate”, his “excellent reading of the game” and his “ability to cover long distances quickly”. That certainly sounds a bit like Yaya, especially the last part.

That being said, what do the numbers show?

As the table shows, Éderson and what Touré became in his later years are stylistically quite different. After starting out as a defensive midfielder, Touré ended his Man City career further forward so perhaps Pep could mold the Brazilian in a similar fashion here?

As he noted Barney Ronay of the Guardianwho calls him “the most intelligent and adaptable Premier League player” ever, the blond played at centre-back for Barcelona in Champions League finally, before transforming into a “goal-pylon stampede-machine” just three years later.

talkSPORT’s Josh Fordham adds that Touré is among the “best Premier League midfielders” in history, so we certainly hold Éderson to a high standard, but he surpasses the Man City legend in terms of appearances in selected time frames and certainly has the attributes to star in the Citizens’ midfield in the future , as Touré has done in the past.