Why Morgan De Sanctis may be the most underrated goalkeeper in the world

Is Morgan De Sanctis the most underrated goalkeeper in the world?

            While Morgan De Sanctis may not enjoy the global reputation of some of the most popular goalkeepers on the planet, his statistics since he joined Roma place him at the top alongside his more illustrious peers. For the second season in a row, Morgan De Sanctis is proving to be a key ingredient to Roma’s ability to wrestle the Scudetto title away from bitter rivals Juventus. Ten games into the 2014/15 Serie A season, the Roma custodian has already amassed 6 clean sheets, having missed two games due to injury. Among Europe’s top 5 leagues this season, only Barcelona’s Claudio Bravo, Juventus’ Gianluigi Buffon and Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer have kept the opposition off the scoreboard more often than De Sanctis, but they all have the advantage of having played more games. More impressively, Roma’s net-minder leads the way with 8 saves per goal – the highest ratio in Europe’s top 5 leagues. His 3.67 diving saves per goal ratio is second only to Sampdoria’s Emiliano Viviano, who has made 4 diving saves per goal.

2014/15 Season Saves per goal rankings (through November 4^th)

2014/15 Season Clean Sheet and Least Goals Allowed Sheet Rankings

At 37 years old, De Sanctis is proving to be one of the most reliable and consistent goalkeepers in the world. His arrival at Roma last season played a huge role in the Giallorossi’s second place finish. De Sanctis finished the 2013/14 season with 21 clean sheets – tied with Lille’s Vincent Enyeama, who was outstanding in Ligue 1 last term, and ahead of Atletico Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois, PSG’s Salvatore Sirigu and Juventus’ Gianluigi Buffon. In terms of least goals conceded per game, Roma’s shot stopper ended last season fourth among Europe’s top 5 leagues with 0.64 goals conceded per 90, behind Manuel Neuer (0.59), Salvatore Sirigu (0.62) and Gianluigi Buffon (0.63), but ahead of Thibaut Coutois (0.65). In comparison to the likes of Neuer and Buffon (and even Courtois), the name De Sanctis may not carry quite the same weight in world football these days, but his record speaks for itself, and as long as he carries on with his current form, Roma fans won’t mind. If the Giallorossi are to prevent the Bianconeri from winning their fourth consecutive Scudetto, the performance of De Sanctis in goal relative to that of Buffon just may be the difference.

2013/14 Season Saves Per Goal Rankings

2013/14 Season Clean Sheet and Least Goals Allowed Sheet Rankings

The Value of a Goalkeeper: The impressive saves per goal ratios attained by Yann Sommer (7.6) and Emiliano Viviano (6.0) this season have a lot to do with Borussia Monchengladbach’s and Sampdoria’s current third place positions in the Bundesliga and Serie A respectively. While goalkeepers don’t necessarily win you titles, the best custodians help their teams earn points throughout a season they wouldn’t have otherwise. Looking at the shot stoppers with the best saves per goal ratios last season, Buffon (4.3 saves per goal) and Neuer (3.94 saves per goal) won the Serie A and Bundesliga titles respectively. While Nice’s David Ospina (4.04 saves per goal) and Levante’s Keylor Navas (4.03 saves per goal) were only able to help their teams place seventeenth and tenth in Ligue 1 and La Liga last term respectively, their clubs would have been much worse off without them. Nice in particular would have almost certainly been relegated without Ospina’s heroic performances in goal.

Both Ospina and Navas went on to have stellar performances at the World Cup for Colombia and Costa Rica respectively, leading their nations to historic quarterfinal stage finishes. Consequently, they earned dream moves to Arsenal and Real Madrid where they are unfortunately currently playing back-up roles to goalkeepers who were statistically inferior last season (Wojsiech Szczesny and Iker Casillas).