Player Focus: Is Stekelenburg A Viable Option For Fulham?

When it comes to goalkeepers, it’s widely regarded that their form rarely peaks until the autumn years of their profession. The experience garnered over a long and potentially successful playing career stands the performer in much better stead as each shotstopper aims to prolong their time at the top, similar to the likes of Brad Friedel, Jussi Jääskeläinen and Mark Schwarzer.

While the former may be playing second fiddle to Hugo Lloris with Tottenham Hotspur, the latter duo have become a mainstay for their respective teams’ starting XI, with Jääskeläinen ever present for West Ham United and Schwarzer making 36 appearances for Fulham in the Premier League this season. 

Yet with West Ham content with their goalkeeper, Fulham are supposedly keen to bring in a younger custodian to fill the gap between the sticks, with their Australian goalkeeper now 40-years-old. As a result, manager Martin Jol is believed to be eager on securing the signature of AS Roma’s Maarten Stekelenburg.

The Dutchman was prepared to leave Rome for west London back in January, only for i Giallorossi to scupper any deal while Stekelenburg was on a flight to England after a fee had been agreed between the two teams. The indecisiveness of Roma failed to sway Jol in his pursuit of his compatriot and having landed Fernando Amorebieta and Derek Boateng already this summer, the Cottagers boss is adamant on strengthening further, especially having overseen his side lose 5 of their last 6 games of the season.

Stekelenburg may have failed, to an extent, to live up to his billing as the next Edwin van der Sar, but he’s still a goalkeeper that would only strengthen the Cottagers ahead of the new campaign. His average rating in his two years in Serie A has improved from 6.47 over the 2011/12 season to 6.78 last term, though injury and the winter break meant he didn’t make a Serie A appearance between the 31st of October 2012 and the 10th of February 2013.

Part of his improved rating has been a result of his improved saves-to-shots against ratio, having saved 65.1% of shots on target he’s faced this season compared to 60.7% in the 2011/12 campaign. This comes even as the 30-year-old shipped more goals per game last year (1.58) compared to the previous season (1.38), although it has to be said that under the stewardship of Zdenêk Zeman between June 2012 and February 2013, the defensive solidity of the club was largely compromised.

Under the Czech Republic born veteran, Roma conceded an average of 1.83 goals per game with him as manager compared to 0.93 under Aurelio Andreazzoli during the latter half of the season. This can also indicate as to why Stekelenburg saw his shot success rate improved by 4.4%, with the Roma goal likely to have come under a higher amount of pressure this season.

When compared to Schwarzer, the Fulham goalkeeper has seen his goalkeeping capabilities called into question, having shipped an average of 1.58 goals per game over the year compared to 1.23 over the 2011/12 season, not to mention his save success rate dropping from 72.9% to 68.5% over the last two seasons. 

Furthermore, with one of Stekelenburg's statistically calculated WhoScored strengths being the ability to save long shots, Jol may have spotted that as something that could be improved in his first XI. Of the 30 goals Stekelenberg conceded this season, only four were from outside the area, while Schwarzer shipped 9 of the 57 goals he conceded from distance. Another of the attraction of the Dutchman's may have been his vastly superior passing accuracy (76.6%) compared to Schwarzer (50.4%), a stat that's particularly pertinent considering one of the latter's weakenesses - long passing - is a strength of the former.

Not only that, but Schwarzer also kept fewer clean sheets this season (8) compared to the 2011/12 campaign (10), despite making 36 appearances for Fulham in the 2012/13 season, six more than the previous campaign. Stekelenburg’s figure has dropped from seven to three - in 17 fewer appearances than his Premier League counterpart - Schwarzer’s average of keeping one clean sheet every 4.5 games is markedly better than Stekelenburg’s average of one every 6.3.

Either way, while Schwarzer has impressed during his five years with Fulham, his age and arguably declining performances indicate that a new goalkeeper is needed prior to next season. Stekelenburg’s save success rate improved and Schwarzer’s is on the decline, so to see Jol pursue his compatriot once again, with a deal expected to be reached before the new season, comes as no real surprise.