Juventus: Analyzing Wojciech Szczesny’s distribution in 2020-21

Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny is in an interesting situation as we head into the summer transfer window. While he is one of the most highly regarded goalkeepers in Serie A and Europe as a whole, he could be replaced by free agent Gianluigi Donnarumma, who is one of the most impressive young goalkeepers we have seen in ages.

Donnarumma would be an upgrade on Szczesny within a few years, given the trajectory of his development. The Milan star would be a huge coup from a rival with no transfer price attached. His wages will be expensive, and Juve may have to qualify for the Champions League to sign him. But for Fabio Paratici, the boost to the project is tantalizing.

Yet Szczesny is still a quality goalkeeper. The 2020-2021 season has not been his best, but what’s interesting is that his distribution does not get praised enough, considering the context of Andrea Pirlo’s system.

According to FBRef.com, Juventus actually attempted the least number of passes beyond 40 yards this season under Andrea Pirlo after being second-lowest last season. They went from 19.8 percent under Maurizio Sarri to 14.9 percent this season. The lower the percentages, the more difference a small margin makes. On top of that, Juve were the only team that attempted fewer than 25 percent of their goal kicks beyond 40 yards.

Wojciech Szczesny leads Serie A’s goalkeepers in one stat

It makes sense for Juve to play this way, of course. They are the biggest club in Italy and want to keep the ball as much as possible. Was it the smartest way to play this season? Probably not, considering the struggles the defenders and midfielders had with ball security – looking at you, Leonardo Bonucci and Rodrigo Bentancur – and how little the possession mattered.

There’s an interesting wrinkle here, specific to Szczesny. Just 14 percent of his goal kicks and 19.6 percent of his passes went beyond 40 yards. However, Szczesny was Serie A’s best goalkeeper in terms of accuracy when he did pass long, completing 55.8 percent of such passes! And that’s no fluke, considering he also led the league with a 54 percent completion percentage in 2019-2020.

His other distribution numbers were good, too. Szczesny was one of nine goalkeepers in Serie A who did not miss a “short” pass, per FBRef. And he was eighth among goalkeepers in medium passes completed. Per WhoScored.com, Szczesny was fourth in passes per game, just behind teammate Gianluigi Buffon, and only Bologna’s keepers made fewer inaccurate passes per game among the 11 keepers with a minimum of 20 short passes attempted per game.

So you can see, Szczesny’s distribution numbers are in the elite tier among Serie A goalkeepers. You’d think that Juventus would have played out of the back a little less this season, especially when Arthur Melo was unavailable, given Szczesny’s accuracy on longer passes.

Donnarumma is an exciting option, but we cannot forget what Szczesny has done at Juventus. There are some fans who have been too quick to disrespect the goalkeeper, even blaming him for mistakes that were not his.