Does the signing of Neto boost Bournemouth’s survival chances?

We’ve looked into Bournemouth’s current goalkeeping options and assessed whether Neto will be an upgrade in this department. 

 

Mark Travers 

Bournemouth’s established number one last season was Mark Travers who had his breakthrough season with the Cherries last season in the Championship.  

After loan spells with Weymouth and Swindon Town, Scott Parker made the decision to make Travers the number one ahead of the 21/22 season. 

The Irish goalkeeper certainly had large boots to fill as previous goalkeeper Asmir Begovic ranked as one of the best shot-stoppers from the previous season. 

Begovic kept 15 clean sheets in the 20/21 season and had a save percentage of 74.5%, which ranked him as the fourth best goalkeeper in the Championship. 

The standard had been set for Travers and it’s fair to say that he surpassed all expectations.  

Last season he managed to keep 20 clean sheets, which was more than any other Championship goalkeeper. 

He was consistently tested throughout the season too as he faced 156 shots on target, the seventh most of any Championship goalkeeper. 

In total, he had a save percentage of 76.5% which was a 2% increase from Begovic in the previous season.  

Travers was one of Bournemouth’s most consistent players throughout the season and it’s probably fair to assume that they wouldn’t have finished second without him.  

With that being said, Bournemouth have been active in the transfer market in looking for another goalkeeper to rival Travers and Neto could do just that.  

 

Neto 

The Brazilian goalkeeper has spent the past three seasons with Barcelona after making his move from Valencia in the summer of 2019. 

In total, the deal was worth around €26m plus an additional €9m in add-ons.  

Since making the move to Barcelona, his opportunities have been fairly few and far between as he has played second fiddle to Marc-Andre ter Stegen. 

Throughout his three years with the club, he has only made 21 appearances across all competitions and he only featured in three league matches last season.  

The last time he has an established number one was with Valencia back in 2018/19 and so we’ve looked into his stats from that season. 

Valencia had a superb 18/19 campaign as they went onto finish 4th in La Liga and qualify for the Champions League. 

Valencia also had the second-best defensive record in La Liga this season as they only conceded 35 goals which was only bettered by Atletico Madrid. 

Neto played an instrumental role in Valencia’s defensive stability this year and it’s clear to see why Barcelona wanted to sign him. 

He faced 134 shots in total and made 109 saves with a save percentage of 79.9%, which was only bettered by Jan Oblak that season.  

Neto prevented 5.7 goals that season, the third biggest overperformance in La Liga, only behind David Soria and David Soria.  

In the 17/18 campaign, Neto had an even bigger overperformance of preventing 10.3 goals, which was the biggest in La Liga that season.  

 

Who deserves the number one spot? 

Scott Parker will be faced with a tough decision ahead of the new season, does he stick with Travers or put his faith in Neto? 

There’s no doubting that Neto has the edge over Travers in terms of experience and pedigree, but dropping Travers would be harsh after the season he has just had. 

Travers is already up to speed with how Parker wants to play and he has an established relationship with the rest of the squad. 

After sitting on the bench at Barcelona for so long though, Neto won’t want to fulfil the same role at Bournemouth and he will be pushing for a starting spot straight away.