There’s been much talk of a goalkeeper merry-go-round during this year’s summer transfer window. Iker Casillas left Real Madrid, Petr Cech joined Arsenal and David de Gea has been linked with a move from Manchester United to Spain for months now.

It was thought that these moves would bring about a summer revolving door of gloved up ins and outs, with stoppers such as Spurs’ Hugo Lloris, Ajax’s Jesper Cillessen and Costa Rica’s World Cup star Keylor Navas also all rumour mill regulars. As yet that hasn’t quite happened.

One goalkeeper who has gone most of the summer with barely a mention, however, is West Ham United’s Spanish stopper Adrián. Strange, perhaps, as a study taking into account stats from 2014/15 has revealed that the Hammers fan favourite is the best value goalkeeper playing in the Premier League today.

Savings and investments provider Scottish Friendly carry out an annual study looking into the best value goalkeepers in the Premier League. Sourcing data from the Premier League, Champions League and Sports Interactive, the Scottish Friendly Super Saver award is given to the best value goalkeeper in England’s top-flight, based on minutes per save made and cost per save when measured against the player’s salary. Data from that study has revealed that Adrián is the league’s most cost-effective goalkeeper.

Adrián played 3420 minutes for the Hammers last season as Sam Allardyce’s team finished 12th. The Spaniard kept nine clean sheets and averaged a save every 26.31 minutes. On a reported £20,000 per week salary Scottish Friendly concluded that Adrián cost West Ham £8,000 per save last season, making him the best value goalkeeper in the league today.

Tom Heaton, relegated with Burnley, picked up the Scottish Friendly Super Saver award for the most cost-effective keeper all round, his £15,000 per week salary edging him ahead of Adrián, with the two having an identical minutes per save rate.

By contrast, the study found that the goalkeeper who cost his club the most last season was Manchester City stand-in Willy Caballero, whose £45,000 per week salary meant he offered a return on investment of a whopping £390,000 per save, after playing just 180 minutes.

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Caballero was closely followed by Liverpool’s Brad Jones and Petr Čech of Chelsea, who both cost their clubs £325,000 per save. The study found that, on average, Premier League goalkeepers made a save once every 32 minutes, at an average cost to their clubs of £87,407 per save.

Adrián performed heroics for his team last season, most notably in the FA Cup when the former Real Betis keeper put in a match-winning performance in a penalty shootout triumph over Everton. The Spaniard has low-key been one of the most consistent keepers in the Premier League for a while now after joining West Ham in 2013.

Another string to the 29-year-old’s bow was his shots-to-saves ratio. According to ESPN he was the Premier League’s fourth best goalkeeper last season, with a saves-to-shot ratio of 74.13% from a minimum of 20 appearances over the course of the season.

One to consider if you’re looking to pick a keeper in your fantasy team, perhaps. He may not be the most talked-about keeper in the league, but the stats suggest Adrián could well be the Premier League’s most underrated goalkeeper – a case he furthered with another star performance in West Ham’s opening day 2-0 win at Arsenal at the weekend.

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Written in collaboration with Scottish Friendly. Scottish Friendly is a leading UK mutual life and investments organisation. It provides investors and their families with a wide range of investment solutions (including Investment ISAs and Junior ISAs). Based in Glasgow their staff claims to be dedicated to providing the best in customer service. The value of your investments can go down as well as up, so you could get back less than you have paid in. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances. Visit scottishfriendly.co.uk for more info.