How Much Is A Goalkeeper Worth?
As the Premiership heats up to be one of the most open and competitive since the formation of the Premier League the goalkeepers of all the challengine teams are going to come under extreme pressure and scrutiny.
No doubt that the team that eventually wins the League will be able to look back over the season and realise that their goalkeeper was a major reason behind this win.
Whilst its becoming a respected theory that you can’t win the League without a world class goalkeeper for some reason they still remain to be one of the most under valued players on the field. The current Premiership record standing at just £9 million for Craig Gordon on his move to Sunderland.
Some managers are acutely aware of the fact that you need a world class goalkeeper to win things, Sir Alex Ferguson went through countless “Top” goalkeepers between Peter Schmeichel and Edwin Van De Sar as they just weren’t able to perform on the big stage. Others still don’t seem to have quite caught up, Arsene Wenger continues to rotate between Almunia and Fabianski, despite both effortly proving that whilst they undoubtedly have talent and at times can be fantastic, they quite clearly don’t have the consistency to take Arsenal to the trophies.
So with some managers not realising the need for a top class goalkeeper, is this what is driving down the price? If we take a look at some of the top goalkeepers around the Premiership, whilst a lot of transfers aren’t disclosed the reported figures tell us that Van De Sar cost around £2 million, Cech cost £7 million, Foster around £4 million and Robinson £3.5 Million.
In todays transfer market you would struggle to fill any position for around £5 million pound with a top class international pick, so why is it that the cost of a goalkeeper remains so low. There are obvious exceptions, with Buffon costing over £30 Million in 2001 for his transfer from Parma to Juventus.
How long will it be before the rest of the world realises that a top goalkeeper should be valued the same as a top striker in todays game??
A goalkeeper is well worth the cost. As a Liverpool F.C. fan I can vouch for the fact that if Pepe Reina is injured our defense immediately becomes much weaker. If a club is able to find a quality keeper the club should never let him go regardless of the cost.