Highlight: the Goalkeepers of La Liga
Welcome to "Highlight," our exclusive series dedicated to the heroes of the beautiful game – the goalkeepers.
In this series, we embark on a journey to shine a spotlight on the remarkable talents and stories behind the gloves. From sure Sorare starters to which goalie not to buy. Washed-up talents to rough diamonds.
In this first chapter, we'll highlight a few goalkeepers of Sorare of the Spanish first division, La Liga. There is no real lay-out to follow, we pick the goalkeeper we like to talk about for whatever reason.
After 30 years La Liga introduced a new logo. The iconic color wheel is replaced by a sharp-looking coral-colorred logo which stands for the passion, energy, and excitement of football. The explanation of the logo is a real throwback to my high school years when you bullshit your way out of unprepared oral assignments using expensive and confusing words.
With the partnership of EA Sports, the name of the league was changed to LaLiga EA Sports, where it used to be LaLiga Santander. All good changes in my opinion, and I really like the coral red of the logo, but we are not here to talk about logo design or my dreadful years in school.
Let's highlight a few goalkeepers!
The Sorare GK to use in the Second Division next year: Ferreira (Granada)
Ferreira has lost his place due to the bad start of Granada this season. After 5 games, Granada has the worst defense in the league with a -7 goal difference. Granada is in 18th place with just three points (one win and four defeats). They can change every week from starting goalkeeper for all I care, but if the defense is a disaster, nothing will change. 35-year-old Raúl Fernández took his starting spot. Obviously, Ferreira cards have dropped in price with limited going from hand to hand for under 10 euros. A real steal if you ask us. While I was writing this article I won an auction for 6,58 euros.
It's a bit of a bleak way to suggest a goalkeeper on the way to relegation but avid readers of the blog should know we like to suggest goalkeepers from the second division in Spain. You can read why in one of our previous articles about the goalkeepers of La Liga Smartbank.
The Ultimate Sorare Cap240 Goalkeeper: David Soria (Getafe)
In the podcasts I listen to, the opinion of Getafe couldn't be any lower. Boring, ultra-defensive, anti-football, and even 'dirty' are the adjectives being used. And not the good kind of dirty like Dua Lipa. No one likes to play against Getafe.
The arrival of the fallen Mason Greenwood hasn't helped their case. I could make a joke about the aggressive playstyle of Getafe and Mason Greenwood. I won't though. Getafe is currently ninth in the league. With already having played Real Madrid, Barcelona, and league-upset Girona, it seems to be a good decent result so far. You could write an entirely new blog post about Girona's historic start of the season with exceptional stories about Blind, Savio, Tsyhankov, ...
Soria is a former youth product of Real Madrid and after a few years at Sevilla, ended up at Getafe. Soria was also linked this summer with a bunch of teams. Real Madrid, Nottingham Forest, and Sevilla to name a few. It is unclear when his current contract will run out.
If you pick your games when you add Soria to your starting 5os line-up. He could be a real asset to your lineup if you pick the games right. Home games and even games against the big teams of the league seem to be in favor of the goalkeeper. Getafe can always overperform against the big teams.
The Biggest GK Talent without Sorare cards: Quetglas (Real Madrid u19)
Those who have watched the player closely have touted him to become “the best Spanish goalkeeper of the next decade" or "the next Iker Casillas". Although it is easy in today’s time to label any young talent who makes a breakthrough to be the ‘next big thing’ in football. Ferran Quetglas joined Real Madrid u19 in the summer of '22 from Mallorca. He's a Spanish youth international and is very highly rated within the Spanish age group. He's currently active in the UEFA Youth League.
The Goalkeeper On the Bench that You Should Buy: Lunin (Real Madrid)
Over the past few years, Lunin has been losing competition to Thibaut Courtois, but during the pre-season training camp, the Belgian goalkeeper suffered a knee ligament injury, and he will miss almost the entire current season. The latest update we had was that even the Eurocup in Germany next summer might be difficult. Although that seems unlikely in my opinion. And although Carlo Ancelotti expressed confidence in the Ukrainian Lunin before the start of the league, Real was urgently forced to look for a new goalkeeper. Enter Kepa (on loan from Chelsea) and although Lunin played two good games, he went back to the bench. Something you need to know: Lunin has expressed his desire to play many, many times before. His contract is up next summer making him a free agent and rumours say he won't be renewing his contract. He's been linked with numerous clubs these past months: Ajax, Celtic, Leverkusen, Celta, Dortmund, ... All very interested teams for Sorare managers. It's time for Lunin to become a starting goalkeeper and it's time for Sorare managers to pick up his cards.
The Goalkeeper for the Sorare Whale: Ter Stegen (Barcelona)
We've written about Ter Stegen in our recent article where we highlight a few goalkeepers to Sorare managers who are looking for a good midweek goalkeeper. Ter Stegen has been the regular choice between the posts for Barcelona for years and is known for his impressive saves and footballing ability. The goalkeeper is sometimes called the Berlin Wall because of the reflexes he has on the line.
I don't know if I would like being called the Berlin Wall as a nickname. Back in the day, our goalkeeper's nickname was stierenlul, which translates as bulldick.
It still gives me nightmares...
Ter Stegen, awarded the best goalkeeper in La Liga last season, is one of the most expensive goalkeepers on the platform. And he recently signed a new contract till 2028. Sure starter. Almost never injured. Proven quality. Let's talk about Barcelona's start of the season, which is a bit underwhelming so far. Even without millions spent on the transfer market, read: Barcelona spent almost nothing this summer due to bad financial weather and sold for over 100 million, the quality of the squad remains undisputed. Rough diamant Lamine Yamal whose name is popping up everywhere as the new Messi. Even with the old Messi still around. The only thing missing is a young world-class striker at this time. I can see Barça spending a few 100 million in the next years trying to get Haaland.