Scouting: Noah Atubolu
A record-breaker goalkeeper for SC Freiburg, does the 22 year-old got what it takes to be an elite player?
The 24/25 season came with a massive challenge for SC Freiburg: after more than a decade under legendary manager Christian Streich (now retired), a new era began. Julian Schuster was the man picked to lead the club, in his first role as a professional coach, and he’s been doing a super solid job so far. Without drawing much attention, Freiburg came close to qualifying for the most prestigious tournament in Europe for the first time ever. Unfortunately, they ended up missing a Top 4 spot in the Bundesliga after losing their last game to Eintracht Frankfurt.
A shining light in the club’s campaign was Noah Atubolu, a 22 yo goalkeeper. From the 1-0 win vs Bochum (January 1st) up until the 2-2 draw vs Mainz (March 15th), he went on a six game unbeaten streak, keeping a clean sheet in every single one of them and beating the club record by a long margin (610 minutes without conceding; the old record were 509 by Richard Golz; 2000/01).
How good is he, actually? Can he start for an elite club in Europe? Let’s find out now.
History
Atubolu has always been seen as a promising goalkeeper at SC Freiburg and played for several German youth teams. Streich showed confidence in the young goalkeeper and promoted him to the starting position last season. His first full experience in professional football, however, was far from smooth and Atubolu made a series of mistakes in several matches.
When asked about one of those mistakes, former coach Christian Streich quickly defended him, stating that Atubolu would keep his spot and that every player in his position makes mistakes. It’s part of a learning process, he told.
The new season came and new manager Julian Schuster also trusted Atubolu. He finished the season as one of the youngest starting goalkeepers in Europe’s top five leagues: Guillaume Restes (Toulouse), Zion Suzuki (Parma) and Bart Verbruggen (Brighton) being the only ones younger than Atubolu.
Step by step, the level of his performances gradually increased, with SC Freiburg reaping the rewards for showing a little bit of patience. Beyond a succession of clean sheets, Atubolu also stood out for saving four consecutive penalties, including one from star player Florian Wirtz. He still hasn’t managed to earn a Germany first-team call-up (more on the reasons for that later), but he’s definitely on the radar now.
Distribution
Short passing
Atubolu isn’t exactly a ball-playing specialist, but he’s more than capable of taking part in the build-up with short passes. He’s constantly touching the ball (higher average than Manuel Neuer!) and, beyond connecting teammates, he can move pretty nicely to offer support to them. His passes are mostly simple ones, but quite efficient — he can draw pressure before playing a pass and hits it almost exclusively with his dominant right foot. He’s good at chipped passes, but doesn’t attempt them that much.
Long balls
When opting to go long, he’s mainly hitting passes to a striker playing back to goal, not one running in behind. Atubolu can generally direct those passes well, but there’s still work to do in order for him to be more consistent with it.
His completion percentage sits currently at 38.4%, a value above average, but still lower than some other names like Moritz Nicolas, Manuel Neuer and Lukas Hradecky.
Goalkeeping Style
Cross-claiming
Atubolu can be described as a somewhat passive goalkeeper when it comes to collecting crosses. His first instinct in those scenarios is always to take a few steps back and wait to react to a possible shot. This behavior ends up giving opponents extra opportunities and led to some goals conceded by him.
That’s something that we can also see at corner kicks.
Shot-stopping
A 1.90m tall goalkeeper, the German is not a remarkably agile player, but he justifies this passive behavior with his sharp reaction time to make close range saves, as long as he doesn't have to move too far. This is, without a doubt, the strongest point of his game.
Reacting quickly is another reason why he’s shown himself to be a reliable goalkeeper when facing medium and long range shots, be it parring it sideways or making a two-time save.
Actions coming off the line
The German goalkeeper struggles to control depth at times, due to his hesitation to leave the goal quickly and also a general lack of agility and explosiveness. Atubolu makes few interventions outside the area and often ends up halfway when he does decide to do so, undecided about whether to fully advance or hold his position. That’s worrisome for any club playing a high line.
When closing down an attacker, the German usually sits at the edge of the six-yards box and almost always expands his contact area by extending his arms and legs to form an "X": some of his best saves this season have come from this specific movement. Then, he tends to move his body further to the left, something that makes him susceptible to conceding goals from shots aimed at the far corner.
His priority when facing an approach from either wing is to defend the near post. Atubolu is a goalkeeper who will hardly be beaten in shots that target that area...
but he has shown vulnerability when dealing with low crosses towards the far post: Atubolu lacks the mobility to anticipate and react to this type of play. Despite being a goalkeeper with good reaction time, moving around to make a quick save in this scenario is not one of the German's strong points.
Penalties
Finally, his shot-stopping skills made themselves known also in penalty kicks. Atubolu went on a FOUR consecutive penalties saved streak this season. Truly impressive stuff.
Final thoughts
Atubolu is, without a doubt, a goalkeeper capable of doing a good job between the posts — some of his saves this season proved that. However, some of his characteristics does not quite fit in with what the European elite are increasingly looking for in modern goalkeepers: a proactive stance to prevent shots has been valued more than the pure ability to stop shots.
This is a factor that could limit Atubolu's career developments and possibly one of the reasons why Julian Nagelsmann has not yet called him up. In a recent interview, the current Germany coach spoke on a mistake made by Jonas Urbig (FC Bayern, another promising young German goalkeeper) against FC Union Berlin, stating that he would rather have a goalkeeper trying a risky move to intercept the ball than one who never leaves the goal to avoid making mistakes.
Still very young, there is more than enough time for the SC Freiburg goalkeeper to improve on what are currently his weaker points. Assuming this doesn't happen, he still has the necessary qualities to establish himself as a starting goalkeeper in several teams below the elite or one that adapts themselves to his style of play.
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