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The most cost-effective goalkeepers in the Premier League for season 2022/23

Written by Paul Kemp
Paul Kemp is an experienced sports writer covering Soccer, NBA and NHL. He also writes in depth reviews of sports betting sites based on his personal experience.
, | Updated: February 6, 2023

This week SportingPedia‘s editorial team decided to reveal the most cost-effective Premier League goalkeepers. For the purpose of our research, we took into consideration the weekly salary of each goalkeeper and the number of saves per game he makes on average, and we set a requirement for the player to have participated in a minimum of five matches. It is no secret that David de Gea is the highest-paid player among his Premier League colleagues, but after we did our calculations, it turned out that for every save the Spaniard has made this season, he has received a payment worth £138,889. That is more than what the others are paid for a whole week, making the Spaniard the least cost-effective goalkeeper in the Premier League.

  • David Raya is the most cost effective starting goalkeeper in the Premier League
  • Wayne Hennessey has higher rating, but he is Nottingham’s back-up goalkeeper
  • David de Gea is the least cost-effective goalkeeper
  • Raya is paid nearly 24 times less per save than his countryman David de Gea
  • Six goalkeepers are paid less than £10,000 per save, while only two receive more than £50,000 for every single save they make

Table of Premier League goalkeepers' stats: games, salary, saves.

Wayne Hennessey’s name comes up as the most cost-effective Premier League goalkeeper this season, but the Welshman has made only two appearances for Nottingham Forest. Of the goalies who represent their teams more regularly and have taken part in at least 10 matches, another Spanish citizen comes out on top. David Raya has made 86 saves in 20 outings for Brentford throughout the campaign, or 4.3 on a game basis. His seven-day salary is said to be £25,000, which means that Raya gets paid £5,814 for every time that he prevents a goal in his team’s net. When comparing this sum to what De Gea gets, it turns out that every save of David Raya is worth almost 24 times less than the one made by the Manchester United goalkeeper.

In general, two goalkeepers are earning more than £50,000 for every save they make, with both of them playing in Manchester. Besides de Gea, Ederson of Manchester City is the other keeper pocketing a large amount. The reason why the Brazilian is in such a high position in the rankings is because he is the goalie called the least into action, having to make only 1.5 saves per Manchester City game.

Bernd Leno (Fulham) and David Raya are the only goalies to have appeared in more than one game and made the most saves, averaging 4.3 per 90 minutes of action. While Raya is at the top of the rankings, Leno gets the 14th spot, only because in terms of salary he is receiving over 3.5 times more than Raya does.

If we look only at the current top four in the standings, we can see that both Nick Pope (Newcastle) and Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal) are getting the same salary. However, Pope edges Ramsdale out when it comes to cost-effectiveness, as each of his saves costs the Magpies £23,500, while the Gunners are paying almost £26k for the same type of achievement to their goalie.


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