This summer once again shows that being an excellent goalkeeper does not mean attracting a lot of attention in the transfer market. At least compared to his colleagues playing in other positions on the field.
Gianluigi Donnarumma of Paris St-Germain is a typical example, but this situation can also be clearly seen in Ederson (Manchester City) and Mike Maignan (AC Milan). These are all top goalkeepers in the world.
If they play in positions such as midfielder, centre-back, striker or defensive midfielder and still reach that level, there will certainly be dozens of attractive offers. The home clubs will also try every way to keep them with new contracts.
But in reality, it is not like that at all. PSG and Man City are both investing in young goalkeepers to replace them at expensive prices. Regarding potential destinations, there have been rumors of Donnarumma moving to Manchester United, Ederson to Galatasaray and Maignan joining Chelsea.
At first glance, this seems confusing. Donnarumma (26 years old) is the captain of the Italian national team, having won EURO and the Champions League. Ederson (31 years old) is a mainstay of Man City under coach Pep Guardiola, with many Premier League and Champions League titles in hand.
Maignan turned 30 last month, is considered the best goalkeeper in Serie A in the past 4 years and the number 1 goalkeeper of the French team. However, teams can completely sign any of them at a reasonable price this summer, or even as free agents next year.
Part of the reason comes from the nature of the competition position. Suppose a top left winger in the world joins a team that already has a similar star, the coach will still try to get both of them on the pitch. For example, at Real Madrid last season, when Kylian Mbappe joined the squad with Vinicius Junior, although the results were sometimes not as expected.
However, in the goalkeeper position, it is a luxury. To be fair, Ederson plays very well and can even play quite well at the center, but that is still a rare case.
Because these are all players with very high incomes, especially Donnarumma, who currently receives about 20 million Euros per season. Therefore, very few clubs have the financial strength to recruit them.
Donnarumma's first representative, Mino Raiola (deceased), once argued that the contribution of a top goalkeeper was equivalent to a Galactico - such as Erling Haaland or Mbappe. And so his salary must be commensurate. Raiola helped Donnarumma sign a €12 million contract at the age of 18, and continued to get a huge contract with PSG when he was only 22 years old.
However, a leap in salary seems impossible at the moment. According to reports, PSG's latest contract extension proposal with Donnarumma is mainly performance-based bonuses, not fixed salary increases. And certainly not including an increase of more than 50% as when he moved to the Prince's Park.
There are always external factors that make things more complicated. Donnarumma is paid a lot but is not a good goalkeeper. This is a quality that many coaches like Luis Enrique currently value very much because it is suitable for their tactics.
Ederson has missed many games due to injury in the last two seasons, even being left out by Guardiola last year. Milan suffered significant financial losses when they could not qualify for the European Cup last season, and Maignan also suffered injuries in the last two seasons.
But the truth is: if they play in other positions, will they be treated like that? It cannot be explained by the fact that they only average less than 40 touches per match, because the central strikers are similar.
Is it true that football, especially coaching and recruitment, both analysts and media scouts, still do not really understand how to evaluate goalkeepers? Maybe because most of the former players who become coaches and scouts are not goalkeepers?
And perhaps because a serious mistake by the goalkeeper still haunted them more than a clear missed by the striker, or a missed pass from the midfielder, or a fallen by the defender, they are often judged to be more strict?
And whether right or wrong, in the end, clubs still consider goalkeepers as a replacement position. Because the gap between an excellent goalkeeper and a goalkeeper is much smaller than in other positions.
