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(Image: GETTY)

The Brazilian has been influenced by a goalkeeper who epitomised the art of playing out from the back – and scored an incredible 131 goals in his career.

Rogerio Ceni played a staggering 1,257 times for Sao Paulo between 1992 and 2015, won 20 major titles and is recognised as the stopper to have scored the most goals in the history of the beautiful game.

That makes him the perfect man for City’s new No.1, 24, to look up to.

Joe Hart was allowed to leave for today’s opponents West Ham after he was ditched by Pep Guardiola because he was not good enough with his feet.

Ex-Benfica keeper Ederson has no such worries and, after starting out as a defender, he is more than comfortable knocking it out to his defenders or launching missiles to the likes of Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne in attack.

He has been a revelation this season and a major reason why Guardiola’s side are smashing through records as they leave the rest of the Premier League in their rear-view mirror.

Ederson said: “I look up to a keeper who has retired now, Rogerio Ceni, who played with his feet. He was very skilful – and he made history.

“He played 25 years at Sao Paulo and he’s the inspiration for me. Hopefully I can build history like that. In the old times, not many goalkeepers could play with their feet.

“But modern football requires those skills because it’s changed. I started playing there because I struggled to run behind the strikers and the other players on the field.

“So I asked my manager if I could play in goal. And it was love at first sight. I loved it. I enjoy it. And that’s why I became a goalkeeper.”

Ederson has been the perfect fit for City since his move and a godsend for Guardiola after Claudio Bravo failed to shine as Hart’s successor.

He has conceded just nine goals in 14 Premier League games and instilled confidence into his back four – easy to see why he has become a major part in this season’s sensational success story. So is the Brazilian surprised that he has settled so well in England? Not at all.

Ederson said: “I used to watch a lot of Premier League games so I knew a lot about the type of football here.

(Image: GETTY)

“It’s very physical, very strong, so that helped me a lot to adapt. I’m really happy with the whole adjustment because the team is winning.

“When I started playing football I started in the defence. That was very important to me to catch some of the skills. I also played futsal so that gave me skills with my feet as well.

“That helped me a lot later on. I already have a lot of skills with my footwork and I train on that a lot. I think, though, that our team helps a lot because we like to keep the ball and start with the build-up.

“The players help a lot, too, because they give me a lot of options for my passes. It’s even easier playing with Pep because you can tell he’s working a lot with the team and with the players.

“We have started really well. Thanks to him we are playing good football and I think we are doing an amazing job, both Pep and the players.

“It’s an amazing start to the season and hopefully we can continue like this but there are always things to improve on. I train, and we all train, to make fewer mistakes.

“On the pitch, I try my best to be focused and calm and always think positive. That’s my attitude towards football.”