10. SAMIR HANDANOVIC (INTER)
Samir Handanovic
For the best part of a decade, Handanovic had spent his Serie A career in the shadow of Gianluigi Buffon. Frankly, though, he was quite happy to stay there; unfussily getting on with his job and demonstrating the quiet consistency that has earned him so many admirers in Italy.
The Inter shot-stopper has been ever-reliable while those around him haven’t, and aged 34, has somehow seemed to get better with each season. The Slovenian is proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks, too: under Luciano Spalletti, Inter’s more patient build-up play has forced Handanovic to adjust his game accordingly.
He retired from international duty in 2015 to wave through Atletico Madrid’s brilliant Jan Oblak, but remains essential to his club side and has a contract at San Siro through to 2021.
9. HUGO LLORIS (TOTTENHAM)
Hugo Lloris
His kicking will always be a stick to beat him with, but Tottenham fans are glad they have Hugo Lloris between the sticks more often than not.
The Frenchman’s ability to pull off breathtaking saves is among the best in the Premier League, and he remains a huge asset to his manager Mauricio Pochettino. His two saves against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in 2017/18 were a case in point: one from point blank to deny Karim Benzema, then an acrobatic stop that kept out Cristiano Ronaldo’s rasping drive.
Lloris still has his moments, as he proved with that bizarre balls-up in the World Cup final against Croatia, but the Bleus skipper was magnificent through the tournament as a whole and deserves his place in this list.
8. MANUEL NEUER (BAYERN MUNICH)
Manuel Neuer
Neuer could top this list when fit, but that’s just the thing – before the World Cup he hadn’t played since September thanks to a metatarsal fracture.
Former Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn warned against selecting him for Russia 2018, scoffing: “It is actually impossible and unthinkable that he can make a good performance.” And he was right: Germany went out in the group stage, losing 2-0 to South Korea after Neuer went walkabout chasing an unlikely equaliser but succeeded only in gifting possession away for the killer goal.
Next season he’ll be back between the sticks for Bayern, though – and almost certainly back to the form we’ve been accustomed to.
7. EDERSON (MANCHESTER CITY)
Ederson
It’s difficult to remember a goalkeeper emerging quite as impressively as Ederson. The year 2017 was a breakthrough one for the Brazilian net-minder, who earned a €40m move to Manchester City that summer and became the second-most expensive goalkeeper in history.
That came after a phenomenal 2016/17 season at Benfica in which he registered 17 clean sheets – 10 in 2017 – and proved to Pep Guardiola that he was the man to replace Claudio Bravo as a dependable sweeper-keeper. The Catalan was proved right: Ederson was magnificent as City romped to the Premier League title, keeping 17 clean sheets en route.
6. GIANLUIGI BUFFON (PSG)
Gigi Buffon
Aged 40, it’s hard to know what to say about Buffon anymore. For 17 years, until summer 2018, he was the world’s most expensive goalkeeper of all time, having joined Juventus for an astonishing €52m in 2001 – a price tag which somehow came to look like a bargain over the following years.
World Cup play-off defeat to Sweden was an unfair end to the international career of an all-time legend, and yet Buffon handled it all with typical good grace. “It’s disappointing. Not for me,” he said, “but for the football movement, because we failed something that could have been truly important for the country.”
His time is coming to an end, but not yet: Buffon left Juventus to join PSG this summer, having won the Serie A Footballer of the Year prize in November and his eighth league title in May. Is there one final triumph left in the tank?
5. ALISSON (LIVERPOOL)
Alisson
The Brazilian is so good that he keeps out Ederson for his national team, and earned widespread praise in 2017/18 as Roma reached the Champions League semi-finals.
There, the Italians lost to Liverpool – Alisson’s new club, what with the Reds having tied up a world record £67m fee this summer. After a season of disastrous goalkeeping at Anfield, Jurgen Klopp has identified the 25-year-old as his new No.1 with very good reason.
Reliable, a fine shot-stopper and comfortable in possession, Alisson is everything that Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius aren’t – and could turn his new club into genuine Premier League title contenders. The missing piece? Quite possibly.
4. MARC-ANDRE TER STEGEN (BARCELONA)
Marc-Andre ter Stegen
Ter Stegen’s early career was characterised by some high-profile blunders, but 2017/18 was a genuinely brilliant season in which he became one of Europe’s most consistent goalkeepers at Barcelona. Really, he should have been Germany’s first-choice netminder at Russia 2018.
The former Borussia Monchengladbach keeper combines nimble footwork with fine shot-stopping on a weekly basis, and became one of Barça’s better players as they reclaimed the Liga crown yanked away from them by Real Madrid.
Remember, too, that Ter Stegen is still only just 26 – and thus has his best years ahead of him. He’ll be ready and waiting when Neuer hangs up his gloves.
3. THIBAUT COURTOIS (CHELSEA)
Thibaut Courtois
The biggest compliment you can pay to Courtois is that he doesn’t stand out, and nor does he try to. His excellence comes in his incredible consistency: minute after minute, game after game, month on month.
Rarely is the Belgian pulled up for individual criticism. Mistakes are rare. Simply, he is a centre-back’s dream; aged 26, already a commanding presence who does his job with consummate ease, and who has three league titles in two countries to show for it.
Nobody was too surprised when it became clear that even the great Petr Cech would have to make way for Courtois at Stamford Bridge, after three fine seasons on loan at Atletico Madrid. In the four seasons since, he has done nothing to suggest that faith was misplaced – and Real Madrid appear to have taken serious notice.
2. DAVID DE GEA (MANCHESTER UNITED)
David de Gea
There are plenty who believe De Gea to be the best goalkeeper in the world, and with performances like the one against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium last season – a genuinely match-winning, 14-save display – it’s very difficult to argue against it.
During a half-decade of flux at Old Trafford, De Gea has been their only constant: an outstanding performer no matter who he plays with or what changes around him at Manchester United. His three-season dominance of United’s Player of the Season award was only broken in 2016/17 by Ander Herrera, but he reclaimed the prize in 2017/18. De Gea has been named in the PFA Team of the Season for five of the last six seasons, and scooped Match of the Day’s Save of the Season the same number of times since 2013.
He combines the two traits few goalkeepers ever get to boast at the time same: the capability of making gravity-defying saves, and yet also consistency that almost eradicates mistakes from his game. Almost: a dodgy World Cup build-up and subsequent error against Portugal proved that the 27-year-old is human after all.
1. JAN OBLAK (ATLETICO MADRID)
Jan Oblak
Finally, football fans are beginning to take notice of the incredible job that Oblak has done as part of Atletico Madrid’s infamously mean backline. Why? Well, that defence isn’t so tough any more.
Atleti’s goalkeeper is now more vital than ever in the Diego Simeone era, and as those around him decline, Oblak continues to get even better.
The Slovenian has it all aged only 25: strong command of his penalty area, expert positioning, brilliant shot-stopping ability and all of it with unerring consistency. In October, he achieved his 50th clean sheet for Atletico, in only his 86th appearance for the Rojiblancos. He has won La Liga’s Zamora trophy for the last three campaigns, and last season made the Europa League Squad of the Season after helping his team to the trophy.
Oblak is arguably the best goalkeeper in the world right now – and might just stay there for a very long time.
