Former Maryland Goalie Serving as Backup in Premier League
Former Maryland goalie Zack Steffen signed with Manchester City last summer, but after a subsequent season loan to Fortuna Dusseldorf in the Bundesliga, Steffen is set to remain in England this summer.
Steffen will serve as the back-up goalie to Ederson for Manchester City in his first season in the Premier League. His arrival with the club fills the void left by 37-year-old Claudio Bravo left Manchester City for Real Betis. Steffen was acquired by the club last year in a £5.2million fee which allowed him to remain with the Columbus Crew at the time.
...Look who’s in training today? 👀
— Manchester City US (@ManCityUS) September 19, 2020
Nice to see ya, @zackstef_23! 💙🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/hT15kSecwq
“Zack Steffen is a modern goalkeeper who has everything,” said former Manchester City football director Lutz Pfannenstiel at the time of his signing. “Steffen has all the ingredients. He has a very clean goalkeeper technique. Good reactions, good hands, and demanding in the box. His distribution and game-opening make him a modern keeper. Normally, we wouldn’t be able to get a keeper of that calibre on the open market.”
Steffen began his professional career in Germany with SC Freiburg II, a reserve team for SC Freidburg, before ultimately spending three seasons with the Columbus Crew. Steffen was named the starting goalkeeper for the Crew ahead of the 2017 season where he’d start in all 34 regular season games, but his 17 appearances for the US National Team in 2018 forced Steffen to miss time the following season. Steffen posted 23 shutouts and 203 saves during his three seasons as the starter for Columbus.
Before his professional career, Steffen played every minute in goal for his two seasons as a Terp as he anchored the Terps’ defense on the way to the 2014 national championship. After being named the NCAA Championship Most Valuable Defensive Player his freshman year, Steffen capped his stellar career named Most Valuable Defensive Player of the Big Ten Tournament in 2014 as he helped guide the Terps to consecutive conference championships.
Manchester City will kick their season off against Wolverhampton on Monday at 3:15 PM.
