The Goalkeeping Debate a.k.a. Attention Valencia!!!

By: Anthony | January 19th, 2009

Andrés Palop is one of the best goalkeepers in Spain, and probably in Europe. From his game winning goal against Shakhtar Donetsk which took us to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup two years ago and then his three penalties saved against Espanyol in the final of the Cup, he’s an all round class act. The problem is – he’s 34 years old. Now sure, a goalkeeper’s career is usually longer than one that plays out, just look at Van der Sar or Oliver Khan.

This however brought me to wonder a few things. After Javi Varas’ amazing performance this past weekend, it’s evident that we have a future star on our hands, but with Palop on the team its unlikely that he’ll see much action. Let’s face it, the only reason he did is because Andrés was suspended. He rose to the occasion though and saved the game for us, without him Numancia could have easily had 2 or 3 goals.

Palop has been the driving force behind both of our UEFA Cup victories, as well as our three other trophies we won in the past three years. He’s also Spain’s third choice keeper and although he didn’t play at the European Championships this past summer, he was a part of the squad and therefore was considered a part of the team that were victorious in Austria/Switzerland.

Palop was only considered to be an average goalkeeper while at Valencia because he was stuck behind Cañizares (remember him Valencia fans?). The moment he came to us however, he was class, he displayed what he always had, but never got a chance to show and that was his ability in goal. I don’t want this to happen with Varas. It’s hit us smack in the face, we can’t make the same mistake Valencia did, we have a future star on our cards.

Over the summer there was the whole Valencia saga in which Palop was rumoured to probably going back to his home town and playing for the club he started at and supported growing up. In the end Sevilla wanted 5 million Euros for him, about 2.5 million more than Valencia was willing to pay so the deal didn’t go through.

Although, now that I think of it, as much as I love Palop and appreciate everything he’s done for us, I’d like to see him sold. He’s getting a bit past his prime and I think it would be smart on the management’s part to get top value for him while they still can. It’s evident that we have a gem in Varas and I would hate to see him move on because of a lack of playing time. We saw this in the summer when we loaned out Italian International Morgan De Sanctis to Galatasaray of Turkey. He was a promising prospect but it was obvious that he wasn’t better than Palop, not yet anyway. Now with Varas showing how good of a keeper he is, it also makes me wonder how De Sanctis will fit into the squad once he returns to Nervión.

I was over at the Valencia offside and many of the posters there looked worried at their goalkeeping crisis and their lack of a strong keeper. Well guys, we have three suitable candidates, mind taking Palop, your prodigal son back from us?