It was pretty clear last season that new Manchester City coach Manuel Pellegrini was not as enamored with Joe Hart as many pundits and England fans were. A series of poor games to start to the season saw Hart dropped for Costel Pantilimon.
The move seemed to work as Hart came back from the benching and was one of City’t best players the second half of the season.
When Pantilimon moved to Sunderland this summer, City needed a back-up goalkeeper, but the person they signed might well take Joe Hart’s starting role.
City bought Argentine Willy Caballero from Malaga, and is someone that Pellegrini knows well after his time at Malaga.
Only Keylor Navas (160) and Esteban (149) made more saves in La Liga last season than Caballero (128), while the Argentine has made the most saves over the last 2 league campaigns (253). In those two seasons, Hart made considerably fewer saves (149), though that will have been down to City having a much better defence than Malaga.
Nevertheless, despite making 57 fewer saves than Caballero last season, Hart (71) still let in 30 goals in his 31 appearances. When you look at their save percentage it is pretty similar, Caballero at 72.7% and Hart at 71.7%.
The data suggests that City are bringing in a shotstopper who is capable of challenging Hart for the number 1 spot at the Etihad. But it is one thing to be a goalkeeper for Malaga and be peppered with shots all game, and another to play for Man City and do nothing for 85 minutes and then be called on to make a game changing save. Can Caballero do that? Can he make that adjustment?
What do you think of Caballero City fans? Can he usurp Joe Hart and start this season?
