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David de Gea these days in not just one of the top young goalkeepers in the world. He has earned a reputation amongst the best men guarding the sticks.
From his baby steps at the Theatre of Dreams, David de Gea rose to the occasion and took a giant leap at one of the Football’s biggest stage, the Santiago Bernabeu. His heroics in the Champions League encounter overshadowed the much hyped battle between the two sides and a new star was reborn, fittingly at the city of his birth!
When Ferguson bought de Gea at such a young age for a record breaking fee, skeptics raised their eye brows on such a bold move. They pondered over every opportunity to undermine his reputation and his each mistake was exaggerated and debated in excess. The boy took every criticism with a hint of smile and relentlessly focused on his game. He had a lot to prove to himself and the manager who had kept faith in him time and again. His acrobatic and sometimes unconventional style of shot stopping abilities has had many admirers in the past, but his hesitant approach in dealing with high balls and corners was always an area of concern.
Against Real Madrid, arguably in his best performance in the Red shirt so far, David de Gea proved his critics wrong and reinstated his claim for the number one spot at United with panache.
David de Gea may be leading the pack for all the goal keepers in his generation, but there are many more talented keepers waiting in line to take the baton from him and stake their claim for a place among the all time greats, a league which belongs to the likes of Buffon, Casillas, Cech and many more!
We take a look at the top young goalkeepers under the age of 20 making their mark in the Europe’s top leagues.
Date of Birth: 11 May 1992 (age 20)
Country: Belgium
Height: 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in)
One for the Future!
Much need not be said about the potential of a young boy who has been chosen to replace Petr Cech eventually. His skills as a goal keeper were evident enough when he rose from the academies and made his senior debut for Racing Genk aged just 16 yrs and 341 days. It wasn’t long before big fishes came looking for him and after 2 succesful years with his parent club, he decided to make a move to Chelsea for a reported €6 millon.
For his development and better first team opportunities, he was soon loaned out to Atletico Madrid to replace another prodigy, David De Gea. In his two seasons at Atletico, he has been phenomenal between the posts and has a Europa League and a UEFA super cup title to show – the latter came after a 4-1 thrashing of his parent club Chelsea. He has 76 appearances for Atletico with 37 clean sheets, a rate very high for any goal keeper in the La Liga. He has 7 international caps for his national side and is set to take over from Simon Mignolet as the first choice keeper for Belgium.
Frequent injuries to Cech have led Chelsea to ponder his comeback to the first team and challenge the veteran for a starting place next season. Even Barcelona are looking to offer the young keeper a chance to play for arguably the best club in the world, something very difficult to resist for a 20 year old.
Date of Birth: 30 April 1992 (age 20)
Country: Germany
Height: 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
The next Oliver Kahn!
German by birth, Stegen was brought up in the town of Mönchengladbach where he joined the academy of the local club Borussia Mönchengladbach. Stegen is part of Germany’s golden generation of young players which includes the likes of Mario Gotze, Andre Schurrle, Lewis Holtby, Marcos Reus and many more to mention. His presence among such highly rated youngsters is a tribute to his talent and we can easily predict that Germany’s future is “safe in his hands”.
After a serene rise from the reserves team of Mönchengladbach, Stegen was given a first team start against FC Koln when manager Favre lost his patience with the incumbent Logan Bailly. He never looked back from that opportunity and solidified his place as the Mönchengladbach number one for the remaining season and more. He provided 4 clean sheets out of the last 5 games to avoid relegation for his club and thus vindicated his manager’s faith in choosing him.
Often compared by football pundits to his childhood idol Oliver Kahn, Stegen, much like his predecessor, has an authority over his defense line. He tries to organize the defense as a unit and bravely comes out to collect crosses and through balls. He has saved 5 out of 10 penalties in the professional level and even the likes of Messi and Van der Vart failed to beat him from the spot. His reputation as a goal keeper grew when former German and Bayern Munich great Sepp Maier claimed that “Marc is virtually on par with Manuel Neuer”. Neur, who himself is 26, will have a tough competition from all the young goal keepers coming out of Germany and Stegen will surely lead the race among them.
Date of Birth: 10 March 1993 (age 19)
Country: England
Height: 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Are you ready Hart?
He broke a 125 year old record when he took guard in between the posts for his national side at the age of 19 years and 141 days in a friendly match against Italy, the feat previously held by Billy Moon since 1988. Jack Butland came into limelight when he had a lucky call up to Roy Hodgson’s England squad for Euro 2012. He later went to the Olympics as the first choice keeper for Team GB.
His potential was admired by the big guns of Premier League who came looking for his signature in the last window but Butland made it very clear that he would not move to a club where he won’t be in contention for a regular place in the first team. Rumors linked him with clubs like Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal etc., but he decided to opt for Stoke City in the January window and returned back to Birmingham for the rest of the season. As Begovic is set to leave Stoke in the summer, Butland will have the opportunity to prove his mettle at the highest level; something he thrives for!
For a player who is still in his teens, Jack Butland has plenty of experience under his belt. The lad has played at all age levels for England and has claimed a regular spot as Brimingham’s current number one. At 6ft 4in, he has a commanding presence in the box and a large wing span makes him an excellent shot stopper. He has a good temperament and does not get flustered by the big games. He has amassed more than 50 senior caps and looks set to battle Joe Hart as the Three Lions main custodian for the next decade.
Date of Birth: 4 March 1992 (age 20)
Country: Germany
Height: 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Another German Giant!
Another addition to the high profile young keepers from Germany, Bernd Leno might prove to be a tough challenger for the coveted spot. Along with Manuel Neuer, Ron-Robert Zieler, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, it will surely become a problem of plenty for German coach Joachim Loew. He rose from the academies of VFB Stuttgart before joining Bayern Leverkusen in 2011.
He became the youngest ever German goal keeper to make an appearance in the Champions League when he enjoyed a loan spell at Bayern Leverkusen in 2011 from VFB Stuttgart. Stuttgart couldn’t realize his potential and made a huge mistake after letting him join Bayern Leverkusen at the end of his loan spell. Leno soon impressed the critics when he achieved the rare feat of keeping clean sheets in his first three games in the Bundesliga, only the third guy to do so in the history of the league.
At such a young age, he has more than 50 caps for his club, which shows his consistency and reliability at the senior stage. Potential transfer bids are expected in the summer for the services of the young keeper, but he wishes to stay at Leverkusen for few more years and develop his skills. His growth at the national level might be hampered with the presence of many talented keepers, but his patient rise and stable performances will help him overcome his slightly error prone counter parts.
Date of Birth: 9 December 1992 (age 20)
Country: Ukrain
Height: 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Ukrainian Dynamite!
It is widely believed that most goalkeepers tend to develop and break into first teams at older ages but Maxym Koval has stood out as an exception to that rule. Aged 16, the Ukrainian international made his debut for Metalurh Zaporizhya and held on to a clean sheet. He soon established his place as a first team regular and ended up with 19 games under his belt for the season. Just 3 games into the new season of 2010-11, he made a move to Dynamo Kiev after the Ukrainian giants were impressed by his performance against them.
Aged only 17 at this time, he was thrust into the first-team after the first-choice keeper Oleksandr Shovkovskiy was injured. His prodigal rise at an early age led Spanish football magazine Don Balon to name him as one of the best 100 young players in the world, an incredible achievement for the teenager. His reflexes and shot stopping skills are his main strength with a very accurate distribution on the field.
His first team opportunities were restricted as he had to fight for the number one spot with the established keeper Shovkovskiy, even then was able to manage 34 caps and managed to keep 17 clean sheets, a 50% rate which is very high at any level. Shovkovskiy picked up another injury prior to Euro 2012, and once again Koval filled. Shovkosvskiy has since returned to the first-team, but rightly the number one jersey now belongs to Koval.
Arsenal was linked to make a move for the Ukrainian but he won’t let go of the first team opportunity, at the biggest club in his country, for anything less than that.
So who do you think will be the next Casillas or Buffon among them? Leave your comments!
