Arsenal seem the midst of a general squad overhaul,
as Mikel Arteta reshapes his playing staff to suit his preferred style.
Most positions seem to be under consideration, and goalkeeper is no exception.
Great teams are built on great keepers and while Bernd Leno is by no means a bad one,
he’s not consistently convincing either.
Prone to the occasional rash charge out and with a few shot-stopping glitches last season,
Leno could be upgraded. Arsenal have also seen Mat Ryan return to Brighton and Hove Albion,
while the other deputy keeper, Runar Alex Runarsson, is expected to leave too.
So Arsenal need someone who can challenge Leno,
either as an immediate replacement or a long-term heir to the gloves.
Stylistically, Arsenal want to build from the back, so distribution is important. An Arsenal
keeper should be confident with the ball at their feet, aggressive in patrolling their area, and a
dominant personality – the Arsenal defence will be quite young and while Kieran Tierney is a leader,
having a strong vocal goalkeeper is of benefit. And the fundamentals matter: no matter how good
a keeper is with their feet, shot stopping and aerial ability both remain fundamental.
Signing a goalkeeper who played last season at a relegated Premier League side might seem like
an odd choice, but Alphonse Areola excelled at Fulham. He won the Fans’ Player of the Season and,
according to FBref.com, finished with the highest post-shot xG plus or minus per 90
in the league, +0.21 – that’s a per game indicator of a keeper’s ability to prevent
goals, and the best publicly available measure of shot-stopping ability.
This means that every 90 minutes, Areola was worth a fifth of a goal saved above expectations,
making him the most valuable shot stopper in the league ahead of second place Emiliano
Martinez and third place Alisson. He’s slightly less aggressive outside his box than Leno,
but has a better rate of claiming crossing, 9.8% to 8.4%.
Areola’s passing last season was impressive: he competed 100% of his short passes and 98.8%
of his medium passes. That means that Areola misplaced three passes of 475
up to 30 yards distance. Leno only misplaced three of 725 over the
same distance, but that shows that Areola’s distribution is not a comparable weakness,
although the Arsenal incumbent did see more of the ball in the same number of matches.
Areola is a calm presence, and a physical one at 6ft5. He’s had a strangely unimpressive
career for someone once hailed as the future of French goalkeeping, with five seasons away
on loan from parent club PSG, for whom he’s made fewer than 100 appearances.
Fulham had an option to buy, which indicates that PSG would entertain offers, especially now that
Gianluigi Donnarumma has joined to challenge Keylor Navas as PSG’s number one. At 27 years
of age, Areola deserves the chance to show that he has the tools to nail down a starting position
at a top European club, and Arsenal would be a smart place to do that.
Despite an injury hit last season, Justin Bijlow will begin next season as Feyenoord’s number 1.
The 23 year-old, who is the Netherland’s U21 keeper and who some felt should go to the
Euros as their starting goalkeeper, is assured in possession, possesses excellent reflexes,
and would be an great stylistic fit for Arsenal.
Bijlow is 6ft3 and athletic rather than physically imposing. His long and short distribution are
excellent, with over 60% long pass accuracy. Wyscout’s prevented goals per 90 metric, which
is similar to post-shot expected goals, suggests he prevented 0.24 goals per 90 last season
and he’s also an accomplished taker of crosses. His save percentage last season was a good 77.4%.
Springy and mobile, Bijlow is good at making saves and then quickly repositioning himself.
He’s a proactive keeper without being needlessly adventurous,
and in terms of how Arteta seems to want to build up, he would be a very solid foundation
without sacrificing any goalkeeping fundamentals.
He could be fairly expensive, especially as Feyenoord see him as a long-term key part
of the side, meaning his roughly eight million Euro valuation is probably on the low side.
But Dutch keepers have tended to adapt well to English football and his age and international
experience at U21 level suggest that Bijlow has a very bright future ahead of him.
While the best young goalkeeper in the UEFA region is Krasnodar’s Marat Safanov, the second best is
probably Fenerbache’s 23 year old, 6ft5 Turkish international Altay Bayindir, who was the back
up at this summer’s Euro tournament. After a tough start at Ankaragucu, where he conceded
12 in four games, Altay secured a high profile move to Fenerbache, where he’s quickly impressed.
Technically, he’s quite an orthodox shot-stopper,
with good positioning and a calm presence. He doesn’t leap around prior to making saves, but
makes tiny adjustments with his feet and presents an imposing presence in one-on-ones. He has great
spring to get back up in position and has made a number of great double saves as a result.
Fenerbache’s defence plays a high, at times disorganised, line, and so he’s regularly
exposed to counter attacks. While his judgement can be a little wayward in terms of coming out,
Altay is still learning and behind a more organised defence he would look less rash.
His distribution is good, without being exceptional, but where Altay stands out,
aside from his shot-stopping, is character. He’s taken to the intense atmosphere of Turkish
football brilliantly, despite a poor start, and is a vocal, organising keeper despite his age.
He would likely be expensive, and Turkish goalkeepers haven’t tended to play much
abroad either, despite having produced some exceptional talents in the last few decades.
But despite these caveats, Altay is without doubt one of the coming talents in the position,
and if they sign him, Arsenal could secure someone in that position for years to come.