Neuer, Buffon and Ter Stegen have been the best distributors of the ball among goalkeepers in Europe's top 5 leagues this season
Neuer, Buffon and Ter Stegen have a passing accuracy of 88.33%, 81.7% and 74.21% respectively and a throwing accuracy of 97.58% (161 accurate throws), 100% (177 accurate throws) and 92.69% (241 accurate throws) respectively
These three custodians are among the best in the world and Barcelona's interest in Ter Stegen is indicative of the rising value of goalkeepers with considerable ball-playing and distribution skills in addition to the shot-stopping skills of the more traditional goalkeeper
Neuer (2nd) and Buffon (3rd) are also among the top 5 shot stoppers in Europe this season with 4.27 and 4.26 saves per goal respectively (See BSports charts below)
Neuer (1st) and Buffon (5th) are also among the top 5 in the "least goals allowed" category with 15 and 19 goals allowed respectively
Ter Stegen, who's been linked by various media outlets to Barcelona will have the opportunity to improve his all-round ability and status in the game if he makes the move to Spain this summer (assuming the Catalan Club is allowed to deal in the transfer market following FIFA's suspension of their transfer ban pending appeal)
Goalkeeper charts from BSports (Updated through 4/22/2014):
Having missed a significant portion of Roma's Serie A season through injury, Mattia Destro has returned to form showing considerable poacher's instincts with 13 goals in 18 appearances (6 of which have been from the bench) for the Giallorossi
Destro is currently the most efficient goal scorer in Europe's top 5 leagues with a 35.14% conversion rate (See Bsports charts below). Having racked up 1106 minutes so far this season, Destro's minutes per goal (MPG) ratio of 85.1 means he's scored a goal every game
If it wasn't for his recent lapse in judgement in punching Cagliari's Davide Astore, Destro's hat-trick in the same game may well have sealed his place in Italy's world cup squad. However, Prandelli's "Code of Ethics" makes his inclusion unlikely, particularly when you consider the form of Torino's Ciro Immobile, who leads Serie A's scoring charts with 19 goals
Goal Scorers charts from BSports (Updated through 4/15/2014):
Benfica has a total transfer market valuation (TMV) of 190.7M Euros and an average player value (APV) of 7.33M Euros
Pictured above, Ezequiel Garay (20M Euros), Nicolas Gaitan (18M Euros) and Eduardo Salvio (17M Euros) are Benfica's three most valuable assets (in terms of player transfer market value)
Garay, who formerly played for Real Madrid and has been linked with Manchester United, has a valuation of 20M Euros, which is 173% higher than Benfica's APV (See APV chart below)
Enzo Perez saw the highest TMV increase among current Benfica players
Perez' (28 year old Argentine International midfielder) transfer market value increased 144.4% from 4.5M Euros to 11M Euros in 2013
Garay's (27 year old Argentine defender) TMV increased 42.9% from 14M to 20M Euros in 2013
Salvio's (23 year old Argentine winger) TMV increased 47.8% from 11.5M to 17M Euros in 2013
30 year old Paraguayan striker Oscar Cardozo (14M Euros) is Benfica's most valuable striker
23 year old Argentine striker Funes Mori (2M Euros) has one of the lowest TMV indices in the team, but has tremendous upside potential for the future
35 year old Portuguese Goalkeeper is valued at 0.7M Euros, which is 90% below the AP of the squad
Benfica Transfer Market Value Index Chart as of 4/7/2014 (Market Value data from Transfermarkt.com
