Ederson will move to Manchester City in July after the Premier League club paid Benfica £35million for the Brazilian goalkeeper.

The 23-year-old Brazilian is expected to succeed Claudio Bravo as City manager Pep Guardiola’s first-choice keeper, but as the £15.4m spent recruiting the Chilean again demonstrates, a sizeable fee and reputation do not guarantee success.

No club have ever paid more (in pounds sterling) for a goalkeeper. Here, Press Association Sport assesses the world’s five next most expensive keepers.

Gianluigi Buffon, Parma to Juventus in 2001, £32.6million

Gianluigi Buffon is well respected around the world
Gianluigi Buffon forged a great career with Juventus and Italy (Lynne Cameron/PA)

The Italian was considered an expensive upgrade on the similarly-great Edwin van der Sar when, aged 23, he left Parma, but 16 years later he remains an authoritative, consistent presence and Italy’s first choice. In an era when there has been significant competition from Iker Casillas, Petr Cech and others, Buffon will likely be remembered as the greatest keeper of his time. Last Saturday he missed out on adding a Champions League medal to the many domestic honours and World Cup he has won so far – having remained loyal to Juve when they were relegated in 2006 amid the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal.

Manuel Neuer, Schalke to Bayern Munich in 2011, £19million

Manuel Neuer has won plenty of trophies since joining Bayern Munich  (Mike Egerton/Empics)
Manuel Neuer has won plenty of trophies since joining Bayern Munich (Mike Egerton/Empics)

If Buffon was the greatest keeper of his generation, Germany’s 31-year-old Neuer is arguably the greatest of this. At a time when admiration for so-called ‘sweeper keepers’ has significantly grown, he is also considered the finest example of a composed keeper capable of playing the ball. Neuer’s form has been so exceptional that even Spain’s Jose Reina proved incapable of dislodging him at Bayern, where he won the Champions League a year before helping Germany to victory at the 2014 World Cup.

David de Gea, Atletico Madrid to Manchester United in 2011, £18.9million

David De Gea has been linked with a move to Real Madrid
David De Gea took time to settle at Old Trafford (Nick Potts/PA)

The then 20-year-old was considered Europe’s most promising goalkeeper when he joined United to succeed the retiring Van der Sar. After struggling in his first 18 months in England, and perhaps more relevantly at United, where so many competent keepers have underperformed, he began to demonstrate why. United have since won the Premier League title, FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League, while De Gea has replaced Casillas as Spain number one. Reports persist, however, that this summer he could leave United to join Real Madrid.

Claudio Bravo, Barcelona to Manchester City in 2016, £15.4million

Claudio Bravo has struggled to perform at Manchester City
Ederson is set to take over from Claudio Bravo as City number one (Adam Davy/PA)

Chile’s Bravo was established among Europe’s leading goalkeepers – owing to his success in replacing Victor Valdes at Barcelona, where he helped them win the treble – when last summer he succeeded Joe Hart at City. His superior footballing ability meant City considered him an upgrade on the long-serving and successful Hart, but he played with such a lack of conviction – albeit behind an uncertain defence – that by the end of the season he had lost his first-team place to the recently-released Willy Caballero.

Angelo Peruzzi, Inter Milan to Lazio in 2000, £13million

Angelo Peruzzi went from Inter to Lazio
Angelo Peruzzi retired at the age of 37 in 2007 (Matthew Ashton/Empics)

It is perhaps only in a nation like Italy, long considered to produce the world’s finest keepers, that Peruzzi would not widely be seen as a true great. In the 1990s, he vied with Gianluca Pagliuca to be Italy’s keeper – in the noughties it was with Buffon and Francesco Toldo. He started for the Juve team that won the 1996 Champions League and reached the following two finals, and was in the Italy squad that won the World Cup in 2006. Peruzzi eventually retired, aged 37, in 2007, having justified what was considered Lazio’s big outlay from seven years earlier.