In the January transfer window of the 2013/14 season, a young Czech goalkeeping prospect named Jindrich Stanek, then 17 years old, joined Roberto Martinez’s Everton squad from Sparta Prague for an undisclosed small fee. Donning the #36 jersey, he was brought in to fill the third-choice goalkeeper vacancy left by Slovakian Jan Mucha, who departed as a free agent the previous summer.
Stanek was primarily competing for the third-choice and Under-21 spots, as Martinez was content with USA goalkeeper Tim Howard and Spaniard Joel Robles, who had followed Martinez from Wigan Athletic in the summer of 2013. Despite high hopes that Stanek might eventually break through, his initial promise quickly dimmed. In August 2014, he made several costly errors for the Under-21s: he sliced a clearance into his own net and conceded a penalty by unnecessarily hauling down a Leicester City attacker. Although the Blues won the game, Stanek’s confidence took a hit. He made only four more appearances at that level before being sent on loan to non-league Hyde United the following summer. Stanek was released in 2016, a year before Everton signed future star goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. He returned to the Czech Republic, joining SK Dynamo Ceska Budejovice’s B team.
In the years since, Stanek’s career has undergone a remarkable transformation. The missteps of that August night are a distant memory, replaced by success that took him to top Czech side Slavia Prague. Last season, he conceded just 26 goals in 24 games, securing five clean sheets and earning appearances in both the Champions League and Europa League. Most impressively, he now wears the number #1 shirt for the Czech national team in this summer’s Euros.
While the football level in Czechia doesn’t compare to the English Premier League, Stanek’s achievements stand out, especially when contrasted with other goalkeepers who have followed similar paths to Goodison Park. His progress has been significant, and he has made a notable impact. I, for one, will be watching him keenly at the Euros and wishing him well.
His team faces the highly-fancied Portugal on Tuesday night in the Group F game, providing him with a prime opportunity to demonstrate his abilities to the world, the Everton coaches, and the few hundred spectators who saw him in August 2014. This match will be a chance for Stanek to prove that he has fully recovered and established himself in top-flight football.
