“He’s the strongest goalkeeper I’ve seen” – The safest pair of hands in Europe tipped for a major club
Nice goalkeeper Marcin Bulka just reached the first significant milestone of this season by registering his 10th clean sheet.
He is the first shot-stopper across Europe’s top seven leagues to notch double digits, with predecessor Walter Benítez, now at PSV, one behind.
Yann Sommer has posted eight for Inter Milan, meanwhile, and Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus) and Lucas Chevalier (Lille) are on seven for their respective clubs.
READ MORE:
- Luis Enrique names football’s biggest game-changer
- Champions League predictions for this week
- Football quiz: Name the mystery footballers
Bulka’s efforts haven’t gone unnoticed with Les Aiglons head coach Francesco Farioli describing him as “one of the most watched goalkeepers on an international level” while former teammate Andy Delort believes he’s destined for one of Europe’s super clubs.
“He impressed me at Nice. I trained with him every day and I think he’ll soon be playing for a top European club. He’s the strongest goalkeeper I’ve seen,” he told RMC Sport.
Create your own head-to-heads using Squawka’s Comparison Matrix
Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain could hypothetically be among those interested, both of which would involve a return to a former club. Bulka joined the Blues’ esteemed youth setup in 2016 before joining PSG three years later.
However, the Poland international never made a senior appearance for the Premier League side, though did make two Ligue 1 outings under Thomas Tuchel, keeping one clean sheet (against FC Metz) in the process.
Having joined Nice from PSG in 2022, this season represents a breakthrough of sorts. To date, Bulka has shipped four goals, meaning Farioli’s unbeaten side boasts Europe’s meanest defence. Furthermore, the Płock-born player has saved a league-high two penalties.
In what’s shaping up to be a memorable campaign, he also ranks first among Ligue 1 goalkeepers in terms of passes completed, long ball accuracy, forward passing accuracy and save percentage.
Going even further, when it comes to goals prevented — the number of goals a goalkeeper is expected to concede according to xG models, minus the number of goals they actually conceded — only Le Havre ‘keeper Arthur Desmas (6.16) outranks Bulka (4.56) with PSG’s number one Gianluigi Donnarumma (4.02) rounding off the current French top-flight’s podium.
