Plenty of eyes have turned to Germany U21 international and FC Köln academy product Jonas Urbig following his €7m move to Bundesliga giants FC Bayern.
On his arrival at Bayern, Urbig has been coined the ‘heir apparent’ to Manuel Neuer, while the 21-year-old was drawing comparisons to Barcelona’s Marc-André Ter Stegen before his move to the Bavarian giants was made official.
This scouting report aims to cut through the hype and provide a more detailed analysis of the player’s key strengths, which is what has drawn Vincent Kompany’s side to his signing.
Furthermore, our analysis will also shed light on weaknesses in Urbig’s game, which are worth considering when evaluating his player profile.
This player analysis piece includes profiles on two more of Europe’s best U23 goalkeepers at the moment—Lucas Chevalier of Ligue 1‘s Lille and Joan Garcia of La Liga’s Espanyol.
According to FBRef, only five U23 goalkeepers in Europe’s top five leagues with at least seven 90s this term have a positive ‘post-shot xG minus goals per 90’.
This statistic indicates that these five players essentially have either had above-average luck or above-average shot-stopping performances this season, with ‘post-shot xG’ measuring how likely the goalkeeper is to save that particular shot.
Of those five players, the aforementioned duo stands out in particular for their shot-stopping performances, ability to claim crosses, and ball skills.
Chevalier has been linked to PSG, along with a host of Europe’s elite sides of late, with Les Parisiens rumoured to be considering parting ways with Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Meanwhile, Garcia has arguably been the all-round best performing young GK in Europe’s top-five leagues this term, with Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal said to be keeping a close eye on the future Spain international.
Our scouting report will provide some analysis of all three goalkeepers and evaluate their quality.
Jonas Urbig Scouting Report At Bayern Munich 2024/25
Let’s start off with our analysis of the new FC Bayern ‘keeper, Jonas Urbig (189cm/6’2”, 83kg/182lbs).
Thus far, Urbig has played at the lowest level of the three ‘keepers we’re analysing in this scout report, but he’s obviously made an excellent impression in his games thus far to earn his move to Bayern Munich.
Urbig’s highest level of performance thus far is 2. Bundesliga, Germany’s second tier, where he’s made 60 appearances across three seasons and three different clubs.
Köln loaned him to Jahn Regensburg for half a season in 2022/23 and Greuther Fürth for the entire 2023/24 campaign.
While playing 10 games for Köln in the 2. Bundesliga this term, Urbig is not in great form from a shot-stopping perspective at the moment.
Having faced 16.8 xG this season, Urbig has conceded 2.2 goals more than expected between the sticks for Köln.
However, if we look at his career in general, Urbig has overperformed expectations throughout his 2. Bundesliga career, preventing 6.38 more goals than expected based on the quality of shots he faced.
The 21-year-old Urbig is the heaviest and joint-tallest of the three ‘keepers in this article.
In terms of his shot-stopping, Urbig’s preparation for incoming shots in terms of his positioning is a clear standout positive in his game which helps him deal with threats comfortably without needing to be overly acrobatic.
With that said, the Germany U21 has exemplified excellent bravery in getting down on the ball fast when required and spreading his body wide when diving to ensure the target is well covered.
On the other hand, Urbig is not the fastest, so he will sometimes fail to get out off his line as fast as other goalkeepers, representing a potential area of improvement for the new Bayern man.
In addition, his judgement on when to come out off his line and close down an attacker or when to hold his position has led to some issues this term and could do with improvement.
This carries over into his judgement of incoming crosses, where Urbig’s command over his penalty box could also be better.
Urbig’s handling could also be better.
The ‘keeper sometimes spills balls other elite stoppers might catch or opts to punch when a catch is an option—this is another area of improvement that Bayern will likely aim to work on with the 21-year-old.
Urbig is happy to get involved in the game well outside his box, as Köln’s tactics have required at times this term, as evident from his 2024/25 heat map above.
The 21-year-old is calm and confident on the ball—undoubtedly a key strength that will have attracted Vincent Kompany’s side to him.
Above, we see an example of Urbig coming under pressure from an opposition forward after the ball had been played back to him by a teammate.
The young ‘keeper remains calm, gets his head up and skillfully lifts the ball out to his full-back with a well-weighted pass that sets his team up to get forward from the wide position.
This passage of play provides an excellent example of Urbig’s on-the-ball quality which Bayern will hope to harness and develop over the coming years.
Lucas Chevalier Scouting Report At Lille
At 23 years old, Lucas Chevalier has been Lille’s number one since the 2022/23 campaign.
He has made 110 appearances for Les Dogues thus far in his young career.
This makes him the most experienced of the three goalkeepers in our analysis, with more than a century of games in one of Europe’s top-five leagues already under his belt.
At present, Chevalier is probably the best shot-stopper of these three young ‘keepers.
The 23-year-old is currently outperforming his xG faced by 6.13—highly impressive numbers.
Chevalier’s performances this season are not an outlier.
He has consistently outperformed his xG faced during his time in France’s top flight, earning his reputation as one of the top young goalkeepers in world football today.
Analysing Chevalier’s game, he can definitely be described as a ‘keeper more comfortable on his line than coming off of it.
On his line, Chevalier is undoubtedly one of the best in the world.
He consistently makes superb reflex saves, boosting his ‘prevented goals’ numbers based on the quality of shots faced, as seen in Figures 5 and 6.
Chevalier has a strong ability to close down attackers and get down to the ground quickly when required.
The Lille man’s handling is decent, but he could improve his catching in certain situations, including when deciding whether to catch the ball or punch.
Furthermore, Chevalier could do a better job of parrying the ball away from danger, with some notable instances this term of the Lille stopper parrying into dangerous positions, giving the opponent an excellent rebound opportunity.
The Lille GK has recently been linked with a move to French giants PSG, where Gianluigi Donnarumma has recently been criticised.
He is currently performing marginally below expectations this season, having conceded about a goal more than he’d be statistically expected to have let pass based on the quality of opportunities against him.
One of the biggest criticisms of the Italian GK among PSG fans is his ability to claim crosses and come off his line.
This isn’t a strength of Chevalier’s either, however.
The 23-year-old rarely commits to charging off his line and claiming crosses.
Generally speaking, the Frenchman is quite good with his feet but is somewhat prone to error when put under pressure, with a few examples just this season of Chevalier conceding possession quite cheaply in a dangerous area due to opposition pressure.
Here, we see Chevalier trying to chip the ball out of danger rather than simply clearing it to safety.
This leads to a dangerous turnover on the edge of Lille’s half.
Here, again, Chevalier attempts to pick out a teammate with a chipped pass under pressure and again plays the ball far too short, allowing an opponent to regain and begin a lethal counterattack.
Overall, Chevalier is undoubtedly one of Europe’s top young goalkeepers—and one of the best pure shot-stoppers in world football right now.
Per Transfermarkt, his value has shot up from €2.5m in the summer of 2022, when his first-team journey with Lille truly began, to €30m today, making him the ninth-most valuable ‘keeper in the world according to the website.
Indeed, Chevalier’s form, performances and potential warrant the hype.
However, our next goalkeeper is arguably a more well-rounded ‘keeper, currently valued at a fraction of Chevalier’s touted price.
Joan García Scouting Report At RCD Espanyol
I’m a big fan of RCD Espanyol de Barcelona’s Joan García.
I would argue he’s the most well-rounded ‘keeper of the three in this article, though his top-flight experience pales in comparison to that of Chevalier, which is a mark against him as there’s a far smaller sample size to go off of.
García isn’t quite performing on Chevalier’s level of shot-stopping right now, with a very slight underperformance on his xG faced this season.
Last season, García played 18 games between the regular league season and the playoffs for Espanyol as they earned promotion from Segunda División.
During that campaign, the Spaniard prevented 4.15 goals based on xG faced—a solid return.
García shines in his ability to come off his line.
He is prepared to sweep up behind a high defensive line, commit defensive actions outside his area, and leave his line to claim crosses.
This gives him a much stronger presence in his box than Chevalier or Urbig.
Above, we see García preparing to leave the six-yard box, getting involved further from his line, and trying to claim a threatening cross.
A second later, the cross approaches the edge of the six-yard box toward the back post, but García has put himself in a great position to catch the floated ball.
The 181cm stopper claims the ball, making his presence well and truly felt inside his area.
García has demonstrated excellent handling in his young career so far, on top of a notable quickness in getting out off his line to close down attackers.
The 23-year-old also gets down fast when required and keeps his body big in 1v1s, giving himself a decent chance in those situations when he comes out to close the attacker’s shooting angle down.
With the ball at their feet, García and Chevalier are not a million miles away from each other at all, with Chevalier probably demonstrating slightly more reliability when not under pressure.
I’d say the reverse is true when under pressure, with García displaying more reliability in those situations this term.
Take Figure 13, for example, where the ball has been played back to García in the build-up, putting the 23-year-old under some pressure inside his box.
García initially takes some steps back, allowing the ball and the pressing forward to get closer to him.
He also buys himself time to get his head up, better understand the layout of the pitch, and give his teammates time to get in position to offer help.
In this case, the holding midfielder drops to give García a decent short passing option, which the ‘keeper quickly spots and takes.
This shows a clear example of how García is capable of helping his team play out of pressure via calm and confident decision-making with the ball at his feet.
García will still make mistakes on and off the ball, and there are plenty of areas in which he’s nowhere near as good as Chevalier, including reflex saves on top of having three inches less in height.
However, the Espanyol man, valued at €10m by Transfermarkt, is still undoubtedly one of the world’s top young goalkeeping talents.
He represents an excellent profile for Europe’s elite sides to keep a very close eye on as he continues to develop and grow in reputation.
We won’t be surprised if García earns his first cap for the Spanish national team sooner rather than later.
Luis de la Fuente gave him his Spain U21 debut in 2021.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Jonas Urbig, Lucas Chevalier, and Joan García are undoubtedly three of the top young goalkeeping talents in the world.
Each has unique characteristics that should be considered when deciding which one to favour over the other.
With Urbig having earned a big move to FC Bayern, it’ll be interesting to watch these three continue their careers in Europe’s top-five leagues and continue their development with a more even playing field on which to judge them against each other.
