One of Manchester City’s fringe players firmly believes he is now ready to make the jump and become a regular in the starting XI.
Pep Guardiola has arguably the strongest squad in world football, with quality players everywhere you look.
While City’s squad is not absolutely stacked, there is strength in depth in every position, with many stars capable of playing in multiple different positions.
One area of the team though that doesn’t see much rotation is the goalkeeper.
Ederson has been at City now since the summer of 2017, joining in a £35 million deal from Portuguese giants Benfica. He has been a magnificent addition, and remained Pep’s number one the entire time he’s been here.
These days though, City have a simply amazing number two in Stefan Ortega – who is said to believe he can actually oust Ederson…
Stefan Ortega firmly believes he’s good enough to play ahead of Ederson at Manchester City
Manchester City took on Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night in their Premier League game in hand.
City weren’t at their best, but managed to get the job done to get three huge points on the board to go two clear of title rivals Arsenal going into the final day.
Erling Haaland scored the two goals, but arguably, he is not the player who most people are talking about.
Stefan Ortega made two top saves against Spurs, with his one against Heung-min Son likely to be remembered for a long time. Had the South Korean scored, City likely would have dropped points.
That save from Ortega has won City a fourth straight Premier League title in Jamie Carragher’s eyes.
After the game, Jamie Redknapp lauded Ortega as being ‘brilliant every single time’ he plays for City, and now, a report has suggested how the German feels about his standing at the club.
The Daily Mail reported last night that Ortega ‘steadfastly believes he is ready to oust Ederson’. This, apparently, is the reason new contract talks with the club have stalled.
Ultimately, Ortega knows that despite how good he is himself, Ederson is one of the world’s best and crucial to the way City play.
Ortega situation is worrying
So Stefan Ortega produced another fine display between the sticks for Manchester City, and this makes things really tricky.
The 31-year-old deserves to be a number one goalkeeper, given the level he has shown for the best team in the world when called upon.
He rarely ever puts a foot wrong for City, and has proven to be an absolutely amazing find.
If he pushes for an exit this summer then he cannot be blamed. Ultimately, he is far too good to be sitting on the bench, and you would imagine other clubs will be queuing up to sign him.
We know that Pep absolutely adores £35 million star Ederson and is probably unlikely to ever drop him, because of his incredible ball-playing ability and solid shot-stopping.
Ortega may ‘steadfastly believe’ he’s ready to oust his teammate, but if that belief is not shared by Pep then it sadly could be the end of the line for him this summer.