00:00Why are goalkeepers so cheap? James Trafford's potential move to Leeds would put him in the top
00:0510 most expensive goalkeepers of all time. In fact, the £40m fee would put him fourth behind
00:11Kepa, Alistair and Onana. Some pretty big misses in there. So why aren't we seeing the world's best
00:16move for mega fees? Well, there's a few reasons. Firstly, supply and demand. Teams only need one
00:21top keeper and whilst you might think that justifies a big move even more, it doesn't.
00:27Managers want stability between the sticks and once they find a goalkeeper that they like,
00:32they'll likely stick with them for years. Clubs are also less willing to sell the best goalkeepers.
00:36There is a level of risk involved with buying one for a big fee. Secondly, data. Seb Stafford-Bloor
00:42of The Athletic reports that Ian Graham, formerly director of research at Liverpool, said that data
00:47relating to goalkeepers is still lagging quite far behind. For example, you can't capture decision
00:52making, a very important part of a goalkeeper's ability, in data. Shot-stopping stats?
00:56Absolutely fine. But whether a goalkeeper could have caught or punched across, you can't capture
01:01that. And finally, glamour. A goalkeeper just simply isn't as exciting as a winger, a striker
01:07or even a nice ball-playing centre-back. Maybe that will change as the value of top keepers
01:11is realised across the world.
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