On 5th January Manchester United fans the world over are awoken to the news that the club have signed a new Goalkeeper. Erik Ten Hag, announced that the player was due to have a medical with the club. It isn’t a shock Manchester United bought a keeper the surprise who that keeper is, none other than Jack Butland.
Why three?
As I picked up my phone on the side of my bed I had to rub my eyes a few times in disbelief.
Jack Butland?
The Stoke Legend?
When we already have two goalkeepers?
Once I was able to rub the sleep out of my eyes and gain my composure I gave the idea of Butland some more thought. At the moment Manchester United have two senior Goalkeepers, David De Gea and Tom Heaton.
For the senior team the club is one keeper short. The majority of top clubs around Europe have three keepers, a first choice, a backup and a third choice keeper. Take Juventus for example, despite their current issues, they have three first team goalkeepers on the books, Pinsoglio, Perin, and Szczesny. Pinsoglio is clearly the third choice Goalkeeper with a grand total of zero appearances for the 2022/2023 season. However Szczesny, who is the traditional first place Keeper has had his four appearances eclipsed by Perin’s seven.
Three spots and one number one
Competition for places among positions is essential to keeping players honest and performing at a high level. There has been some thought over the years at United that De Gea could have used more competition to keep his level up. While Romero was at United there was never any doubt as to who the number one keeper was.
To be fair to the club, it is not as if United had not tried. Just this season the club brought Martin Dubravka on loan to provide competition for the number spot with De Gea. However after his error-laden performance at Burnley, there was little doubt that it was time to move one. There were still issues with Henderson, a player with the capacity to challenge De Gea.
During his tenure as Manchester United Manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would brag about his “two number one keepers”, a situation that was unsustainable. Regardless of his level of confidence I for one never found Henderson to be convincing. He would argue about mistreatment and broken promises but most players don’t leave Old Trafford on amicable terms. Even though he is only on loan and still on the books, it feels as though Henderson has already left the club, his bizarre and bridge burning interview with TalkSport underlines this.
A familiar role for butland
Unlike Henderson, Butland is familiar with the backup keeper role. He likely won’t cause a fuss behind the scenes. Butland has zero appearances in the premier league for Crystal Palace so far. His suitability to the back up role is one reason but stats provide another as to why Butland joined United.
Ten Hag prefers goalkeepers good with the ball at their feet. This is still a major point of discussion since this is one of De Gea’s main weak points. I wasn’t aware of Butland’s ability with the ball so I analyzed his per 90 stats with the ball in possession compared to De Gea’s.
Using Squawka’s Comparison Matrix I have compared De Gea’s per 90 stats in the 2021/2022 Champions League to Butland’s per 90 stats in the 2021/2022 Premier League season. In total Butland played nine games compared to the seven for De Gea. It is important to keep in mind De Gea played in the Champions League against higher level opposition:
Based on the above stats, it appears as though Butland is better in possession than De Gea per 90 but De Gea is better at saves. When viewing these stats side by side it makes more sense as to why Ten Hag directed the club to secure a player of Butland’s profile. Without much effort the club has a player on loan till the end of season and his Crystal Palace contract expiring this summer.
As an English national, Butland helps with Manchester United’s Premier League homegrown player count. This is a straightforward and sensible deal, which isn’t something you could always say about United over the years.