Gloves off as England run short
THE extent of the English goalkeeping crisis has been laid bare – after stats revealed that homegrown keepers are becoming an endangered species.
England No.1 Joe Hart was shipped out to Torino after being shown the door by Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
And there are precious few others still getting a chance at the top clubs.
Statistics published by the Swiss-based Football Observatory (CIES) found that the Premier League had more foreign goalkeepers than any other league in Europe.
An astonishing 62 per cent of keepers in the top flight are from overseas – well over twice the number in Germany’s Bundesliga and La Liga in Spain.
In Serie A – Hart’s new home after leaving here on a season-long loan – the figure is 34.9 per cent.
It’s a far cry from the days when English goalkeepers were the envy of the world, with 1966 hero Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton, Ray Clemence and David Seaman among the most highly rated No.1’s in the game.
None of the current top six Premier League clubs has played an English goalkeeper this PL season.
The well has rarely been as dry – and it was overflowing in comparison when Tony Coton was playing for Watford and Manchester City in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Coton said: “You might see a top-class goalkeeper like Claudio Bravo doing brilliantly for Barcelona, but in the Premier League it is very different, it’s a completely different environment.
“There have been some great examples of keepers coming in and doing superbly, but there have been a few who have not pulled up a lot of trees.
“Manchester City have let Joe Hart go, but they haven’t strengthened the position. Now I’m not questioning Pep Guardiola, but if you’re asking me to agree that Bravo and Willy Caballero are better than Joe Hart, I’m sorry, I can’t.
“The most basic thing you do as a goalkeeper is to keep the ball out of the net – and no one is better at that than Joe Hart.”