Huddersfield Town confirm loan signing of Crystal Palace goalkeeper Owen Goodman

The 21-year-old stopper was League Two's goalkeeper of the year last season in his loan spell with AFC Wimbledon

Huddersfield Town have confirmed the loan signing of Crystal Palace goalkeeper Owen Goodman.

The 21-year-old has spent the last two seasons on loan in League Two, first with Colchester United and last season with play-off winners AFC Wimbledon.

Goodman was named in the League Two team of the season for his exploits with the Dons, with 21 clean sheets and just 35 goals conceded giving them the best defensive record in the fourth tier.

Goodman has been in Town’s sights for some time and the deal has now finally been given the go-ahead by Crystal Palace. The Eagles are however keen to involve Goodman in their own first-team pre-season, and so will hold onto him for some of the summer before sending him up to train with Town ahead of the new campaign.

Terriers manager Lee Grant said in a club statement: “Owen was a key target for us this summer, and we’re excited to have him join us in good time for the season ahead.

“An incredibly exciting young talent, he rightly caught the attention of many with his form and performances last season, so we’re glad that Crystal Palace have shown belief in us to oversee the next stage of his career and development.

“In each discussion I’ve held with him, Owen displayed a hunger to succeed and enthusiasm to contribute to our shared goals in the season to come, with his own ambitions aligned to our own. He played a key role in AFC Wimbledon’s successes last season, and wants to push himself to improve further still.

“Starting his pre-season alongside the first team at Crystal Palace tells its own story about how highly he is thought of there, and we look forward to integrating him into our group before the upcoming tour to Austria.”

Goodman added: “It feels really good to have this deal complete, and I’m looking forward to the season to start.

“Being told about the plans for the team, the way we want to play and our goals for the season by manager Lee Grant was really exciting, and I didn’t have any doubts about signing here and playing my part in that.

“Last season was really encouraging for me both personally and professionally, and I want to improve further this year, too. I’m full of belief and attracted to the ambition the club are showing, so I’m confident this is going to be a good season for both the team and myself.

“My pre-season work will start with Crystal Palace before linking up with the squad before Austria, and having visited the stadium and training ground, I’m looking forward to being back involved soon.”

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Owen Goodman scouting report: Why have Huddersfield Town signed a keeper?

There are many intangibles involved in goalkeeping that can be difficult to capture through data — or at least the kind of data made available through various football metrics websites.

How well does a goalkeeper command their box? Are they avoiding coming for crosses more than other keepers because their team plays a low block and the centre-backs are especially good at clearing them? How do they perform one-on-one?

But there are obvious key stats that represent the other work a goalkeeper does, and the good news is that Owen Goodman comes out well on pretty much all of them.

We pulled all the goalkeeping numbers we could from SofaScore and FotMob for every keeper who played over 20 games in League One and League Two last season — that’s 48 goalkeepers in total.

We’ll start with the big one: save percentages.