GAVIN BAZUNU IS on the move once again, and today’s loan move makes Stoke City the seventh different club of his career so far. 

While Bazunu’s eagerness to move speaks well of his attitude and determination to play regularly, it is also testament to the fact he has failed to nail down a regular starting place at Southampton. 

Saints are enduring a miserable return season to the Championship, and having sacked Will Still, they are languishing in 13th under new manager, Tonda Eckert. Their first move in the January window has been to sign Israeli goalkeeper Daniel Peretz on loan from Bayern Munich until the season’s end, pushing Bazunu down the pecking order. 

Stoke actually marks a step-up for Bazunu, given they are seven points and seven places better off than Southampton, and are in contention for a place in the play-offs. Stoke – whose sporting director is former Irish international Jon Walters – were in the market for a ‘keeper following the news that their first-choice Viktor Johansson will miss most of the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. 

But with opportunity comes expectation. Stoke have a purchase option on Bazunu, so he is under pressure to prove he is ready to be first-choice for a side with aspirations of promotion to the Premier League. He hasn’t yet proven so at Southampton, because of a coalescing of injury and poor form.

Signed in June 2022, he was first-choice for the bulk of that Premier League season until manager Ruben Selles decided to pick Alex McCarthy for an ultimately unsuccessful relegation run-in, citing the latter’s experience. 

When Bazunu had the full-throated backing of Selles’ successor Russell Martin, he didn’t get any luck. Having been first-choice for the bulk of a season that ended with a swift return to the Premier League, Bazunu ruptured his achilles in April, ruling him out of action for the rest of the year.

Southampton spent a baffling £25 million (€29m) on Aaron Ramsdale while Bazunu was on the sidelines, meaning the Irishman made his return from injury on loan at Standard Liege in Belgium, a move itself cut short by a knee injury. 

With Ramsdale shipped out on loan to Newcastle, Bazunu started the season as Southampton’s first-choice, though was dropped again for McCarthy for seven games, with then-manager Will Still citing stats and the fact Southampton were conceding too many goals to explain his decision. Bazunu regained his spot, however, and remained first-choice until the abrupt arrival of Peretz. 

Struggle for consistency 

Bazunu’s issue is not his quality. He remains capable of making some remarkably agile saves – see one flying save with his face to protect a recent point against Millwall – but he has lacked consistency.

Stats website FBRef ranks goalkeepers’ performance by subtracting the number of goals they concede from the post-shot xG value of the attempts they face, meaning a goalkeeper with a high-positive value will be outperforming expectation, whereas a goalkeeper with a high-negative result will be conceding more goals than the stats models believe they should be facing. 

Bazunu is the worst-performing goalkeeper in the Championship on this metric, on minus 6.3, meaning he has, in the eyes of the data gurus, conceded six goals more than he should have. (Stoke’s promotion push, by the way, is built partly on the outstanding performances of Johansson, who is the second-best rated goalkeeper in the Championship on this metric, on plus 4.5. That Stoke are nonetheless turning to Bazunu is an encouraging vote of confidence.) 

This continues a poor trend, given Bazunu was bottom of the same metric for the Premier League season of 22/23 and the Championship season of 23/24. (The sheer volume of shots he has faced because of Southampton’s dodgy defending means he can point to others in some mitigation for these numbers.) 

And yet any Irish fans who remember his extraordinary performance at home to Serbia in 1-1, World Cup qualifying draw, will testify to Bazunu’s talent. 

Still developing 

All of the above has to be caveated with reference to his age. If Bazunu is still developing, he is doing so under a much harsher spotlight than his peers, for it is unusual for any goalkeeper of his age to have played as many games as Bazunu has. Even allowing for a nine-month injury lay-off, Bazunu has already played more than 200 senior first-games for club and country before he turns 24 next month.

No Irish goalkeeper since Packie Bonner has played as many games before their 24th birthday, and of the Premier League’s first-choice ‘keepers, only Gianluigi Donnarumma (Man City), Bernd Leno (Fulham), and Jordan Pickford (Everton) hit the 200-game milestone earlier than Bazunu. 

The scrutiny on Bazunu exists because he has been brave enough to court it. His international team-mate Mark Travers, for instance, is not the subject of articles like these, because he is content to sit on the bench at Everton. 

Those who know Bazunu praise his mentality and his attitude, which will be necessary characteristics over the months ahead.