Juventus: Previewing the goalkeepers before the summer transfer window

Juventus have one of the best goalkeepers in Serie A, but that hasn’t stopped them from being linked to Milan’s Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The Old Lady has never had issues in between the sticks. Although the legendary Gianluigi Buffon is back at the club at the age of 41 in the hopes of finally winning a UEFA Champions League trophy, Juventus have a different goalkeeper who can currently call himself the best in Serie A.

Wojciech Szczęsny led all goalkeepers in the league in save percentage, and it wasn’t even close. The Poland international saved a jaw-dropping 84.6 percent of the shots he faced, per FBRef.com, and nobody else in the league even saved 80 percent. Incredible.

Unsurprisingly, the leader of the elite Juve defense also led Serie A in clean sheet percentage, holding the opposition to zero goals in 42.1 percent of his games. He and Lazio’s Albanian keeper Thomas Strakosha were the only ones with fewer than 0.90 goals allowed per 90 minutes.

In every sense of the word, Szczęsny is elite. He showed his quality at Arsenal and then was a revelation for some excellent AS Roma teams, but Szczęsney is quietly reaching new heights at Juventus despite not receiving nearly as much acclaim as other keepers in Europe.

As for Buffon, he’s still OK. The Italian legend started seven games and allowed exactly one goal per match, though his 68.2 save percentage was not exactly great. Still, while he was one of the worst performers in post-shot expected goals minus goals allowed – a state Szczęsney placed first in – it’s hard to be too critical of someone who is mostly along for the ride.

That said, Juventus do need to think about signing a better backup goalkeeper. They don’t necessarily need to go for an “heir apparent”, since Szczęsny is just 29 and still the best keeper in the league. An upgrade, especially during this time of financial uncertainty, would be imprudent and totally unnecessary.

Gianluigi Donnarumma has been linked to Juve consistently in rumors over the past year, and he might be the best young keeper in the world. Scratch that. At 20 years old and having placed second in Serie A in clean sheet percentage behind the Bianconeri’s No. 1 last season, Donnarumma is a prodigy who is absolutely the best young keeper in the world. (Apologies to Schalke’s Markus Schubert and Manchester United’s Dean Henderson.)

AC Milan know how amazing Donnarumma is, they know he is somehow only scratching the surface, and, above all else, they know how important he is to their rebuild. They will not let him go for cheap, and since transfer values are set to crash, it stands to reason that they won’t let him go at all.

Donnarumma is too good to sit on the bench, especially for more than one season. But Szczęsney is too good to upgrade. Juve’s interest in Donnarumma is not surprising, given he’s the best Italian goalkeeper and has massive upside, but it ultimately may not lead to anything for a while.