Some young goalkeepers across Europe are leading title charges and staving off relegation. Should more club place trust in them when the pressure is on.
Header Image: George Wood/Getty Images via Burnley Express.
It can be easy to turn to experience when looking for reliability in high-pressure situations - especially when it comes to goalkeepers. But there are younger players plying their trade between the sticks across Europe who are proving that youth can do the job.
There aren’t too many more pressurised situations in football than fighting to stay in or get promoted from a league, and those are the exact circumstances that Burnley’s James Trafford and Parma’s Zion Suzuki have performed in this season.
The Clarets have been either promoted or relegated in each of the last three seasons, and if they bounce back then the outstanding defensive record of Scott Parker’s side will be a major reason for that. At the time of writing, Trafford, alongside Burnley's defence, has kept 23 clean sheets in 32 league matches and hasn’t conceded more than once in any game. For context, they have conceded 14 fewer goals than Sheffield United, the next best defence in the division.
The 22-year-old also won the Championship’s Player of the Month for January, a month where he kept six clean sheets in as many matches. The crowning glory of that run undoubtedly came in the goalless draw against Sunderland, when he outfoxed Wilson Isidor twice to deny both of his penalties.
While the saves themselves were impressive, his undone laces and “crying” hamstring making the Frenchman wait defied any claims of naivety that are often attached to young goalkeepers. Trafford was playing the penalty game with expert ‘maturity’.
Moments and performances like that are vindication for Burnley placing trust in a relatively inexperienced goalkeeper at senior level, having signed the then-20-year-old for a club record £19m plus add-ons from Manchester City. Trafford played in all but ten games of his Premier League season with Burnley and didn't embarrass himself by any means, though Vincent Kompany opted to take him out of the firing line last March. But it was Trafford's approach to the setback that was exemplary of why he's come so far so quickly - and has translated development into top performances this season.
'I thought if I got down and sad that I’ve been dropped, I won’t use this time to improve,” he said, speaking to the Mirror.
“I’d be kicking myself thinking why didn’t I just try and get my head around it and improve instead of moping around. “It didn’t make me a worse goalie. I still have the same legs, same brain, same body and I just knew as long as I got better every day, I would get what I deserved in the end.”
He had only played at League One level for Accrington Stanley and Bolton Wanderers before making the move, but there was further evidence of what he could do with the heroics that saw England win the European U21 Championship in 2023.
Trafford has since been on the bench for England’s senior team for five matches, and it is telling that his name was immediately among those thought of when it was reported that Thomas Tuchel could be open to calling up Championship players for the Three Lions.
If you look at the opposite end of the Football League, 21-year-old Gabriel Breeze is the goalkeeper who has been entrusted by Mike Williamson and now Mark Hughes as Carlisle United try to avoid dropping into the National League. This brilliant footwork to deny Lyle Taylor earned the club what could be a vital point against Colchester United.
In Italy, Zion Suzuki is the highest-profile young goalkeeper vying to keep their team in a division. The Japan international, now 22 years old, has often been linked with big-name clubs – most notably Manchester United – but settled on Parma and prioritised the game time he would get with them when he left Belgian side Sint-Truiden.
On the face of it, things haven’t been great for Suzuki or his club, as they dropped into the relegation zone following a fourth consecutive defeat and have conceded 45 times – a number only worsened in Serie A by Hellas Verona’s 54.
Such baseline statistics don’t tell the full story, though, as best encapsulated by Parma's most recent loss at the hands of Roma. It took a superb Matias Soule free-kick sailing in off the post to beat Suzuki, who then produced one of the match’s best moments by denying the Argentine and sprawling across his goal line miraculously to stop Anass Salah-Eddine from slotting into what had seemed to be a vacant net.
With I Gialloblu currently just one point behind 17th-placed Empoli, they will be relying on Suzuki to come up with more big moments if they are to have a chance of surviving on their return to Serie A.
There could also be young goalkeepers having their say in the battle to stay in La Liga, as Joan Garcia (23) and Karl Hein (22) keep net for 15th placed Espanyol and bottom club Real Valladolid respectively.
Before heading on loan from Arsenal to Spain, Hein’s last senior minutes at club level had come in an EFL Cup defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion in November 2022 – his only ever first-team appearance for the Gunners. While it’s been a tough time with the Estonian conceding more goals than any other goalkeeper in the league, five of the seven matches Valladolid have taken points from have seen him and his defence keep a clean sheet. Having played all of Valladolid's 25 matches this season, it doesn't seem like Hein is the first change that has come to mind when manager Diego Cocca has tried to switch things up.
In a draw against Real Sociedad and 1-0 win over Real Betis, Hein made vital saves in the final seconds of each matches to deny Sheraldo Becker and a header from fellow goalkeeper Fran Vieites.
Joan Garcia’s save to halt Luka Sucic with an outstretched leg after the midfielder had effortlessly glided through Espanyol’s defence was recently nominated for La Liga’s Save of the Month award. That type of moment isn’t an anomaly, with his performances this term having earned the attention of national team coach Luis de la Fuente and various big-name clubs across Europe.
Espanyol sporting director Fran Garagaza recently made a clear statement about the situation, as quoted by Pericos Marca, saying: “In the summer we became stronger, either they pay the clause or he wouldn't leave. We have an asset with a very high value, for everything he represents. We are clear that we are not going to make a bad sale. Joan is a top kid.”
Whilst table topping teams run at least partly on psychological and sporting momentum, vital to a goalkeeper's performances in both regards, those at the opposite end of the division can, if handled right, play with a freedom that liberates a field of errors.
If you look further afield, there are also plenty of examples of young goalkeepers competing at the top level in their league. Mike Penders (19) and Konstantinos Tzolakis (22) are between the sticks for table-topping Genk and Olympiacos, and Armin Pecsi (19) made multiple spectacular stops against Ferencvaros to aid Puskas Akademia’s efforts for a first-ever Hungarian title.
Slawomir Abramowicz (20) has been an important part of Jagiellonia Bialystok’s aspirations domestically and on the continent, while the incredibly tight title race in Romania sees Otto Hindrich (22) and Alexandru Rosca (21) representing CFR Cluj and Dinamo Bucuresti respectively.
Another player flying high is Obed Nkambadio, the 22-year-old representing Paris FC who are backed by the Arnault family after an acquisition that included a minority stake for Red Bull.
Despite that, the club still wants to call on local talent and Nkambadio is one of those, as he was part of France’s squad for the Olympic Games. He has helped his side to their current position of third in the table as they aim to reach France’s top tier for the first time since 1979, while he was also selected in the official ‘team of the half-season’ in December, showing how important he is to the club’s aspirations.
There will be many more goalkeepers who could contribute at the senior level but are currently waiting in the wings for their opportunity to do so. From Trafford to Suzuki, these stoppers and others offer a snapshot of how important less experienced players can be in high-pressure situations when they’re trusted to showcase their talent.
