Why Manchester United should avoid Jan Oblak transfer trap

With the conclusion of David De Gea’s contract and possibly the culmination of his long-standing tenure in the number one shirt at Manchester United, potential successors could be weighed up in the following months.

One name that has been linked with the role is Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak. The Slovenian number one has been present among the very best in Europe over several years although he has shown alarming signs of decline in the last 12 months.

Oblak’s main attraction is his shot stopping which is perfect for a pragmatic approach drilled into the 2021 La Liga champions by the reputable Diego Simeone. In the 20/21 Oblak had a stunning save percentage of 80 per cent, which inspired Atleti towards their second La Liga title in the Simeone era.

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As well as a massive PSxG-GA rating of +0.26, meaning that approximately every four games Oblak was preventing one more goal than the average goalkeeper would be expected to make. This stat is made even more impressive by the fact that he only faced 3.16 shots on target per game giving him a reduced chance of boosting his goal prevention stats based on volume.

Despite league-leading shot-stopping stats, experts were still reluctant to compare Oblak with the likes of Manuel Neuer. This was because of the flaws of his overall game that is protected by the defensive style approach Atletico Madrid resemble as a team. The lack of ball-playing capacity that a usual title challenging team would require, meant that Oblak would be naive to be wanting away from the Spanish giants. Also, the team’s deep defensive line is sound protection for Oblak’s unproven ability aerially, ranking in the bottom 20 per cent