Middlesbrough are looking to strengthen their goalkeeper department this summer, with Radek Vitek, Mark Travers, and Kayne van Oevelen as potential options. The team's current first-choice goalkeeper, Sol Brynn, stepped up last season, but with mixed reviews. Brynn is still young and has potential to grow and learn from his experiences.
What happened?
Middlesbrough are exploring the market to strengthen their goalkeeper department this summer. The team's current first-choice goalkeeper, Sol Brynn, stepped up last season, but with mixed reviews. Brynn is still young and has potential to grow and learn from his experiences.
Why it matters for Middlesbrough
The team's goalkeeper department is crucial to their success. With Radek Vitek, Mark Travers, and Kayne van Oevelen as potential options, Middlesbrough may be looking to provide genuine competition for Brynn. This could test Brynn's mental strength and hunger to fight for the spot.
What comes next?
Middlesbrough's transfer plan should not mean writing Brynn off completely. The team's current goalkeeper options are being compared to Brynn in terms of quality alone. The comparison will be broken down into three key areas of modern goalkeeping: shot-stopping, goals prevented, and distribution.
Shot-stopping
Brynn is last in the shot-stopping category. In terms of his save percentage, he is the only keeper who doesn’t hit the 70s percentile, with only 68.9% of the shots he faced last season saved. That ranked him 12th in the Championship. In comparison, Vitek was seventh on the league’s list, saving 71.37% of the shots he faced.
Goals prevented
Brynn emerged as the weakest of the four keepers in this measurement, and the only player whose goal prevented number was a negative. Finishing 20th of last season’s Championship goalkeepers, his goals prevented was -6.64 - which in simple terms means he conceded more than six goals than the quality of shots he faced suggested he should have.
Distribution
The comparison will also look at the distribution of the goalkeepers. This will include the number of long balls played, the number of short passes, and the number of crosses played. The goalkeepers will be compared in terms of their ability to distribute the ball effectively.
What's next for Middlesbrough?
Middlesbrough's next fixture is against Birmingham at home on February 20, 2027. The team is currently 15 points behind leaders Coventry in the Championship. They have scored 72 goals and conceded 47 this season, with a goal difference of +25. League standing (final 2025 table -- new season not yet under way): 5th in Championship, 80 pts, 22W-14D-10L from 46 games, recent form LLDDW.
