The UEFA European Under-21 Championship is about to start; it is scheduled for late June and teams are already preparing for this tournament in order to bring new talents to light and showcase them while aiming for the title.
In fact, numerous teams are approximately on the same level at the moment and little details will be defining who will reach advanced stages and who will be able to lift the title. These details can vary and would include individual player skills or extra efforts, players’ positioning or individual mistakes and more.
Another factor that can be extremely decisive during such tournaments is goalkeepers’ performances and contribution in key moments such as in penalty shootouts, dangerous conceded shots and various other situations.
In such cases, the performance and quality of goalkeepers get tested and teams with excellent goalkeepers will surely have an advantage over their opponents on a technical and even a psychological level, knowing that excellent goalkeepers provide serenity to defence and eventually to the whole team, especially in the non-possession phase.
Different goalkeepers participating in this competition are playing as first-choice goalkeepers in their respective teams. Perhaps the most notable example of this is Illan Meslier, France’s goalkeeper who is Leeds United’s first-choice too.
Moreover, James Trafford is actually Bolton Wanderers’ first-choice goalkeeper, loaned from Manchester City. The same applies to Stefano Turati at Frosinone (on loan from Sassuolo), Julen Agirrezabala who is in competition with Unai Simón at Athletic Club in La Liga, Noah Atubolu at Freiburg and other competitive goalkeepers.
In this analysis, we will try to explore the best goalkeepers in the tournament through data analysis of their statistics, relying mainly on their saving and physical capacities while also shedding some light on their passing attributes and vision since goalkeepers are nowadays increasingly required to excel in terms of passing.
Best in saves and goalkeeping
In order to assess goalkeepers’ saving abilities based on existing data, one of the effective options is to look at the shots against per 90 in relation to the average of saves per 90. Also, it is always important to take into consideration the team and especially the league each goalkeeper plays in since the level of the competition can surely impact goalkeepers’ saving averages. Through the following collected data, we can argue that Jasper Schendelaar has, approximately, the best numbers — especially if we link his saving percentage to the number of shots against.
But, at the same time, Matěj Kovář, James Trafford, Ilian Meslier and Julen Agirrezabala have got some fairly solid saving averages compared to the rest of the tournament goalkeepers. Nevertheless, if we evaluate each goalkeeper’s situation, it would be very important to stress the fact that Meslier’s numbers are more difficult to achieve in comparison with the rest of the goalkeepers — mainly because he is a starter in a team that plays in the EPL who faces world-class teams like Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United on a regular basis.
Therefore, having that saving percentage against such teams’ attacks holds a bit more weight for us.
Passing evaluation
As mentioned above, goalkeepers are getting more and more involved in the possession phase as contributors and this idea has become essential to most teams. Goalkeepers are the ones who start the build-up from the back and are trained and required to resist high pressing with accurate passes.
It is true that not all goalkeepers are good at this, but what is certain is that the number of goalkeepers who are good passers is increasing day after day in modern football. In order to assess Euro U21 goalkeepers’ passing, we looked at their passing accuracy in relation to their number of passes per match, which would help us identify who passes more often than the rest and who has the best accuracy rates among participating goalkeepers.
Through this graphic, we can say that Matěj Kovář is one of the best in terms of passing accuracy even though he is not the goalkeeper who passes the most. Noah Atubolu is however the goalkeeper who passes the most but with less accuracy than Kovář, while Amir Saipi, Ruslan Neshcheret, Trafford and Agirrezabala are the best after Kovář in terms of accuracy and passes per match.
Standouts
Illan Meslier
Meslier can be considered the tournament’s best goalkeeper for us, given his experience, his numbers at one of the most complicated leagues and his attributes. The 1.97 meters French goalkeeper is characterised by his excellent reflexes and goalkeeping skills, especially in 1v1 situations and in crises that seem impossible to guard against.
He usually reads the forwards’ movements and intentions in a correct and anticipated way and has the agility needed to react quickly to such forwards’ dribbling attempts or feints. He’s proven on several occasions that his concentration level is high and he can deal extremely well with complicated moments during games, which makes him a really reliable player within the team especially for lifting the morale and motivating his teammates.
Although he can improve a lot more in terms of passing and especially in terms of aerial duels, Meslier’s exits, interceptions and tackling rates are all good enough if we consider that he is playing in the EPL. Moreover, his clean sheet average is not bad at all especially if we compare it to the number of shots against per game.
This competition would represent a big opportunity for Meslier to shine even further and prove on a continental level that he is a powerful goalkeeper, knowing that he is the most adequate profile for having an excellent tournament and claiming the best goalkeeper of the tournament award.
Matěj Kovář
While Kovář is playing for Sparta Prague in the Czech First League and not one of Europe’s top-five leagues right now where he’ll perhaps aim to find himself in the future, he is putting on some great performances this season while on loan from Manchester United.
In fact, the Czech international has been helping Sparta Prague a lot this season and his saves were very decisive in his team’s title win, with 10 clean sheets and multiple crucial saves against different opponents. In fact, Kovář is excellent at saving shots from distance as he is outstanding in the air with quick and decisive reactions, especially during this season.
Also, the statistics below prove that Kovář is not an occasional good goalkeeper but one who is consistent in terms of performance and excellent in terms of numbers.
His clean sheets’ average is outstanding compared to the number of shots against per match. His saving, interceptions and aerial duels won averages are excellent as well.
However, he must work a bit harder regarding his exits in order to improve his statistics and be more crucial in such situations. What is also very good about Kovář is that his passing accuracy is quite impressive and this is a trait that most teams need nowadays.
Putting some solid performances together during this Euro U21 with the Czech Republic will help him get some more exposure and prove his worth to a larger audience, as he might challenge for the best goalkeeper of the tournament title as well.
James Trafford
Another very promising name and candidate to leave an impact during Euro U21 is James Trafford. The 20-year-old goalkeeper is actually on loan from Manchester City to Bolton Wanderers — and he has been having an excellent season so far with plenty of crucial saves that helped Bolton Wanderers reach the League One play-off semi-finals.
In fact, Trafford is a very agile ‘keeper with excellent reactions to shots from distance and from close range as well. His statistics speak for themselves since his clean sheet average equals 95% and his ability in terms of interceptions, exits and passing accuracy are great.
Nevertheless, he will have to work harder on his efficiency in the air and on his long passing as well in order to become a more complete goalkeeper and challenge for a spot at Manchester City in the near future or elsewhere.
Playing the tournament with England would also give Trafford the opportunity to shine even further and be at the centre of attention of many teams, which would logically drive him to put on some even more convincing performances.
Julen Agirrezabala
Julen Agirrezabala can be considered a goalkeeper with great potential, due to his impressive performances with Athletic Club — and at 22 years old, he can still improve a lot before reaching the peak of his potential. Agirrezabala is among the most promising goalkeepers in La Liga at the moment and can be considered an exciting prospect for his team.
Agirrezabala is excellent in terms of exits and therefore he is very reliable when it comes to 1v1 confrontations with forwards. Plus, he is relatively good in the air and in playmaking as well since his passing accuracy rate is high, relative to other goalkeepers.
Nevertheless, working harder on interceptions, tackles and long passes would help Agirrezabala a lot in the near future as these improvements would help him enhance his clean sheet numbers and increase his efficiency in the build-up.
Jasper Schendelaar
Jasper Schendelaar is one of the most promising young Dutch goalkeepers at the moment despite not playing for a really ‘big’ club. He is the goalkeeper of PEC Zwolle in Eerste Divisie, Netherlands’ second league after the Eredivisie. He is a 22-year-old characterised by some excellent passing skills, powerful and quick reflexes and the ability to intercept dangerous passes or crosses played into the box. His ability in the air is average while his exits are not very common since he prefers to save from his area most of the time.
It is true, though, that Schendelaar’s goalkeeping statistics are excellent, especially when it comes to clean sheets and saves. Yet, these statistics shouldn’t be considered as totally positive knowing that the level of the league doesn’t help us in considering these numbers as a reference, especially if we compare them to numbers of goalkeepers playing in some much tougher leagues.
Conclusion
The UEFA European Under-21 Championship will take place very soon and goalkeepers will surely be very crucial in such a competitive tournament. Trafford, Meslier, Kovář, Agirrezabala and Schendelaar are most likely going to be the goalkeepers that make the most impactful performances while the rest are also capable of making surprises and helping their teams reach the advanced stages of the tournament.
