“I remember my father used to wake up at 4am,” Ederson Moraes recalls. “He woke me up as well. We would leave home together, he was going to work and I continued my walk to catch the bus. I had my training session with Sao Paulo in the morning. I had to take two buses to the point I could take the club bus.

“Same way return. Very often when I was back home I didn't have time to have lunch. I just had time to change my clothes and go to school. When I was back in the evening I was exhausted. So I used to have dinner and go straight to bed because I had to rest to follow the same routine the following day.”

Ederson was just 13. His father, Antonis Moraes, stacked fruit onto lorries in Osasco, on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s sprawling, largest city. His son was “chasing his dream”; the dream of becoming a professional footballer. A dream that was fuelled just three years earlier on the clay pitch of a small, neighbourhood school, ‘Champions Ebenezer’, and would, aged only 15, lead Ederson to board a plane, leaving his family behind, to try and make it with the giant Portuguese club, Benfica. “My head was only football,” Ederson explains. “And I always thought I’d succeed.”

Many footballers, especially Brazilians, have astonishing backstories. And Ederson is no different. He is, though, an interesting mix. A mix of being an easy-going, somewhat shy young man, who is also a devout Christian, and who has a yellow, smiley ‘emoji’ tattooed – one of 30 tattoos on his body – behind his left ear so that it is highly visible to show the world that “I’m a happy person”. And the Manchester City goalkeeper smiles and laughs a lot.

Then there is the fierce competitor who earned the nickname “The Bull” when he was at Benfica because of his fearless style. “It was my team-mates who called me that,” Ederson says. “I think it's because I didn't fear to put my face or my feet in any situation if it was necessary, or having to put my face where an attacker was putting his feet.”

That bold style led to him pleading with City’s medical staff to let him carry on after he was badly cut, down his left cheek, in a challenge by Liverpool’s Sadio Mane earlier this season. There was blood, everywhere, and Ederson eventually needed seven stitches to close the wound but he did not want to go off. “But that incident didn't interfere with my confidence whatsoever, I kept playing the same way after that,” he says. “The following day I was training again as usual. If it happens again, I'll do the same. Hopefully, I won't get hurt again [laughs].”

Ederson, Bernardo Silva and Georgia Stanway visit the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital credit: Getty Images

Indeed Ederson immediately told City manager Pep Guardiola that he was ready to play in the next game, away to Feyenoord in the Champions League, just four days later. And he played, wearing a scrum-cap.

As we meet at City’s training ground Ederson has just returned from a Christmas visit to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. The 24-year-old does not speak English but he had no trouble communicating and playing with the children on the wards.

During this, his first newspaper interview since joining City last summer for £34.7 million, there is only one topic he does not want to discuss – what allegedly happened in the tunnel after the recent Manchester derby – as he covers his upbringing, why he became a goalkeeper and, intriguingly, what Guardiola said to him after he signed. It did not involve making saves. That is a given.

“He told me the way the team play,” Ederson explains. “He told me about the importance of the build-up, but also about the ‘mid-balls’ and with me he could also have ‘long-balls’, so our game was going to be more complete.

“So when I started training here, we worked a lot on that, the short, mid and long-balls. Training session after training session I got used to it and kept improving. Every day I learn something new.”

Ederson was soon back up and running – and playing for the first team – following the collision with Sadio Mane credit: Manchester City FC

Ederson’s ability with the ball at his feet is remarkable – his composure, the range and accuracy of his passing – as he has taken the role of the so-called ‘sweeper keeper’ to new heights. “I started playing as a full-back, but it's difficult to chase quick forwards, especially for me that I'm not particularly quick!” Ederson says. “I had lots of trouble running after the forwards. I asked my manager (at ‘Champions Ebenezer’) if I could switch my position to the goal. When I did my first training session, it was love at first sight. I liked it since minute one and then my career as a goalkeeper started.

“But I think my footwork is influenced from having started as a full-back. Also I played futsal and that helped me a lot. I used to play as a goleiro-linha’ (fifth man), it's a goalkeeper that plays a lot with his feet. So we used to attack with five players and defend with five players. From that period, I had my shooting skills and good footwork.”

What does he like about being a goalkeeper? “The responsibility,” Ederson replies. “The goalkeeper in a football team has more responsibility. The goalkeeper can make five miraculous saves in a game, but if he makes one mistake, afterwards everyone is only going to remember the mistake. The goalkeeper is a crucial member of a team. The man who has to be more focused during the 90 minutes, be courageous and make quicker decisions. It's good to feel pressure and responsibility. It means you can't fail in the game.”

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That bravery, he believes, is shared throughout the City team through the attacking style demanded by Guardiola. And Ederson has made a huge difference. “The way we do the high pressure, we have to have our lines really far from the goal, lots of teams are playing long balls behind our defence line to put us in trouble,” Ederson says. “Lots of times I have to leave the goal to block a ball. We need to be brave and courageous in this style of game, especially in the decision-making, which is the most important thing.”

Training at City is, therefore, “different” from what he has previously experienced. “We have a specific way to play here at Manchester City, with the build-up,” Ederson explains. “My teammates always offer me lots of lines to pass so that ends up being easier for my role…I used to work on my footwork, but not as much as I do now. It's a style of football that you enjoy playing and you enjoy watching. I think our team has a lot of calmness with the ball, we know how to work well and wait for the best moment to attack.

“I think it's great the way we play and the way we approach the games... Our approach to football is a football of joy, the same joy that we do in our training sessions we show it later on match-days. That joy ends up influencing our fans and the rest of the football fans because they enjoy how we play.”

Ederson credit: Getty Images

Ederson was also influenced by a legendary Brazilian goalkeeper. “Rogerio Ceni,” he says, smiling. “He's my idol. He was a goalkeeper, very skilful with his feet as well. He scored lots of goals from free-kicks, penalties... Correct me if I'm wrong, I think he scored more than 130 goals in his career? He made history in his club (Sao Paulo), he stayed for 25 years and played more than 1,500 games. He is a reference to the club, a great idol. So, I hope I can build a nice story like him one day. Not scoring goals, of course, but winning lots of trophies and make my name important in a big club.”

But does he want to score?

“I'm not planning to take the free-kicks, maybe penalties one day!” Ederson says. “If they give me the chance, I will do it, because I'm good at it [laughs]. But free-kicks, there are a lot of great players on our team that can shoot better, so I'm going to leave them to do it.”

And what of those tattoos? “Yes, I have the names of my parents and my wife (Lais),” Ederson says. Another is planned for his baby daughter, Yasmin. “I also have this quote on my leg that I like a lot,” he explains, reaching down. It is in Portuguese, from the Bible, Psalm 91, and reads: “The Lord is my God, my refuge, my fortress. In whom I trust. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you”.

There are other tattoos, less religious. “I have one here on my neck, it's an emoji that means joy, happy, because I'm a happy person. I have them here (touching his neck) so people can tell that I'm a guy that loves tattoos. There are a lot of people that might not like tattoos; I respect it. For me, it's my passion, so the same way I respect their view, I'd like everyone to respect my passion for tattoos.

“And when I look back (at my life) I look with a smile on my face. I remember sometimes a difficulty and I realise that it taught me something or it helped me later on. The difficulties in the past are the wins in the present. It's really rewarding when I go back to Brazil when people come to you and congratulate you for your success, your dedication, your effort.” Starting with those early starts.