FPL new signings: Can Mark Flekken be the new David Raya?

One of this summer’s first confirmed Premier League signings saw Brentford spend £11m on Freiburg goalkeeper Mark Flekken.

The 6ft 5in Dutch international is about to turn 30 and, with David Raya constantly being linked with a move elsewhere, has likely been bought as his replacement.

So can Flekken establish himself as first-choice between the sticks and what impact will he have in FPL?

We’ll attempt to answer those questions below.

THE HISTORY

It took a while for Flekken to become a top-flight regular, first joining Freiburg as back-up to Alexander Schwolow in 2018 and then suffering a season-ending elbow injury shortly after his team-mate left for Hertha Berlin.

So it’s only since turning 28 that Flekken has been established as a top stopper.

Before then, he was involved in two amusing incidents whilst at MSV Duisburg. Firstly, he scored a last-minute equaliser in Osnabruck thanks to a cheeky backheel.

Secondly, Flekken went viral with a FIFA-style gaming glitch where his team had scored and the goal music started playing. He turned around for a nice drink of water in the back of his net – only to discover too late that it had been ruled out, as Ingolstadt took a quick free-kick and worked their way towards a tap-in!

Things are better now, as he’s been integral to Freiburg’s consecutive Bundesliga finishes of sixth and fifth – both times narrowly missing out on the Champions League. They’ve also been semi-finalists and runners-up in the main DFB Pokal cup whilst reaching the last 16 of the Europa League.

A Bundesliga-high 13 clean sheets were kept in the 2022/23 season and such form has been good enough to get him four Netherlands caps.

PLAYING STYLE

Flekken describes himself as “a ball-playing goalkeeper” and WhoScored agrees with this, adding that he is a very good shot-stopper.

Strong reflexes and good distribution? It all sounds very Raya.

Flekken’s 2021/22 Bundesliga save percentage of 73.8% was bettered only by Stefan Ortega – now of Manchester City – with the most recent campaign’s higher 74.0% ranking fourth.

Raya still betters Flekken over the last two campaigns, however:

Fbref have Flekken’s PSxG+/- figure (think expected goals prevented) as +1.7 and +2.4 over the two recent seasons, meaning that he has kept out more goals than he was expected to based on the quality of shots faced. He bettered Raya in 2021/22 but trailed in his new team-mate’s wake in 2022/23.

If looking for a past icon to compare with, Louis van Gaal and the official Bundesliga site are amongst those that see some Edwin van der Sar inside of him.

WHERE FLEKKEN FITS IN AT BRENTFORD

Publicly, Brentford will play hardball with Raya, wanting to get the best fee possible for a player with one year remaining on his contract.

Yet the assumption has to be that the Spaniard is about to leave for pastures now and Flekken is here to replace. Thomas Strakosha may have something to say about that though, having curiously left his role as Lazio’s number-one last summer to become a Brentford back-up with no league appearances.

Manager Thomas Frank will embrace the competition.

“We’re very happy to have signed Mark. He’s a player with a lot of quality who will strengthen our goalkeeper group. He was a big part of the team there and now he’s coming to us and will hopefully make the group better and the team better. He’s a very good shot-stopper and comfortable with the ball at his feet. His distribution is very impressive.” – Thomas Frank

Defensively, the Bees had an interesting 2022/23 campaign. They conceded the second-most shots on target (197) whilst also allowing the fourth-fewest big chances (67). No team had a bigger difference between these numbers, allowing Raya to make lots of saves from poorer, non-threatening shots.

He made a league-high 154 of them in total, also being the best for save points (39) and goalkeeper bonuses (20).

IS FLEKKEN WORTH BUYING IN FPL?

As well as joining up with former Freiburg team-mate Kevin Schade, this move allows Flekken to play behind an established Premier League defence that collected 12 clean sheets last season.

Until the 2023/24 fixtures get released on Thursday 15 June, it’s hard to commit towards a full FPL recommendation, especially with the slight chance of Strakosha rotation. Pre-season friendlies will tell us more on that front.

If the above two concerns are assuaged, a £4.5m pricing would tempt many managers into a medium-term commitment, knowing Brentford goalkeepers can be save-making machines.