(Football news) Gabriel Slonina is still only 18, but his imposing frame and skill with his feet make him an all-round talent as Chelsea are close to signing him for an expected fee of around €10m for the USA international, with a loan back to Chicago to continue his development. He’s certainly not a finished product yet but in due course might become a world class goalkeeper. He’s already the youngest goalkeeper to ever play in MLS history and even got a call-up to play for the Poland national team last month before rejecting them and choosing the US to be his international team.
This season, Slonina has played the most MLS minutes than any other Chicago Fire player in the squad. The 18 year old has made one or two mistakes, but he started this 2022 season with five clean sheets in seven matches. Slonina wants to break the league’s clean sheet record (17) in the MLS, the teenager has a mentality of a true born winner and wants to win the MLS Cup with Chicago Fire this season. Slonina has also embraced comparisons to Gianluigi Buffon and Manuel Neuer, saying “why can’t I be at that level?”. He doesn’t lack any sort of confidence.
At 6 feet 4 inches, Slonina is physically very imposing and he makes good use of his size and strength, his specialty of coming for crosses and reading the game for the back is quite a useful trait to have at such a tender age. Slonina started 11 MLS matches in 2021 and conceded just 16 goals. On top of all this, Slonina is more comfortable than most keepers with the ball at his feet. He has a short pass accuracy of 97.6% completion rate and medium-length 95.5% completion rate passing, he also has a sharp eye for picking out teammates with a long pass as he has a completion rate over 40 yards of 45.9% which is one of the highest in MLS among keepers.
The 2022 World Cup may come too early for Slonina but he will soon become the USMNT No 1 goalkeeper, particularly with the current goalkeeping group under scrutiny as Zack Steffen and Matt Turner both have their qualities, but they also have their weaknesses. The fact that Sean Johnson was recently given a chance in a friendly against Uruguay indicates that the US National team coach Gregg Berhalter isn’t totally convinced by the pair. Seattle Sounders legend Stefan Frei has also been assessed as a goalkeeper option in this year's World Cup.
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