The position of goalkeeper is an oft-underrated one – while the goalkeeper may not win you games, he can surely save it. Yet, when the individual awards are handed out at the end of the season, it is rare that a goalkeeper is afforded their due – with strikers often grabbing all the glory.
Yet, the European season has provided us with plenty of stunning performances over the course of the season, including trophy winning ones.
Here are the 10 best goalkeepers of the season, in reverse order:
10. Alphonse Areola – Villarreal (on loan from PSG)
With goalkeepers of the quality of Salvatore Sirigu and Alphonse Areola in their ranks, it was a bit of a surprise when Paris Saint-Germain signed Kevin Trapp from Eintracht Frankfurt for a reported fee of €10 million. With Areola shining for Villarreal in between the sticks, it seems the Parisian club committed a gaffe by not putting their faith in the 23-year-old.
Areola and Trapp share similar stats, but what pushed the Frenchman into contention is that he has played behind a defence unsettled by injury, coupled with playing in a far better league in terms of quality. The 23-year-old is keeping experienced goalkeepers like Mariano Barbosa and Sergio Asenjo on the bench, with Villareal manager Marcelinho impressed by his performances.
The loan from PSG has worked out in Areola’s favour, as great goalkeeping performances such as those against Real Madrid have catapulted him into the spotlight, although that was only enough for him to make the French squad to the 2016 UEFA Euros as a standby. With an impressive haul of 17 clean sheets and 80 saves, Areola has shown that he has what it takes to become PSG’s #1 in their future.
| 2015/16 Stats | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 37 |
| Goals Conceded | 32 |
| Clean Sheets | 17 |
| Saves (League + UEL only) | 80 |
| Saves Per Goal (League + UEL only) | 2.5 |
| Penalties Saved / Conceded (League + UEL only) | 1/1 |
| Distribution accuracy (League + UEL only) | 54.5% |
9 Jack Butland – Stoke City
When Jack Butland looks back on this season he will have mixed feelings that vary to extremes, with the Englishman being undoubtedly one of the best goalkeepers midway through the Premier League season, earning him a much-awaited call up for his national side. However, it was on England duty that he suffered a terrible injury that ruled him out of the season and Euro 2016.
Despite missing the final two months of the season, the 23-year-old has been voted Stoke City’s Player of the Year, after which he was full of gratitude, saying “Football is a passion of mine and I will always try to give everything I have to help the team pick up positive results, so for the fans to vote for me as their Player of the Year means a great deal to me.”
The shot-stopper has been instrumental in Stoke’s 9th place finish in the Premier League, above former champions Chelsea, a club that Butland rejected before joining Stoke, claiming he didn’t want to be ‘just another number’ at Stamford Bridge. The youngster has had the last laugh and looks set to repeat memorable performances such as that against Arsenal, as Stoke’s and England’s undisputed #1.
| 2015/16 Stats | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 35 |
| Goals Conceded | 39 |
| Clean Sheets | 12 |
| Saves (League only) | 81 |
| Saves Per Goal (League only) | 2.19 |
| Penalties Saved / Conceded (League only) | 0/3 |
| Distribution accuracy (League only) | 56% |
8 Kasper Schmeichel – Leicester City
When Kasper Schmeichel had signed for Leicester City, there was relatively little fanfare, given that a promising start to his career at Manchester City had descended into unfortunate spells at Notts County and Leeds United. However, after five seasons with the club, the Dane has emulated his celebrated father, Peter Schmeichel, by winning the Premier League.
Leicester City have had many stars this season, but Schmeichel is one of the unsung ones. The Foxes were unable to keep clean sheets at the start of the season, despite which Schmeichel has racked up 15 by the end. What has been typical of Schmeichel’s season is his penchant for making stunning saves at crucial moments, with the ones against Manchester City and Tottenham being instrumental in earning the Foxes some points against their title rivals.
A curious part of Schmeichel’s play this season has been his distribution stats, which are at an astonishingly low 39% accuracy. This is a bit of a revelation of Schmeichel actually being one of Leicester’s playmakers, as the number of times the Dane has played a risky long ball aimed at Jamie Vardy, has resulted in a few goals.
It’s rather odd, then that Barcelona are rumoured to have an interest in Schmeichel – perhaps the Catalans have realised that possession isn’t the point of football?
| 2015/16 Stats | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 39 |
| Goals Conceded | 39 |
| Clean Sheets | 15 |
| Saves (League only) | 77 |
| Saves Per Goal (League only) | 2.2 |
| Penalties Saved / Conceded (League only) | 0/3 |
| Distribution accuracy (League only) | 39% |
7 Claudio Bravo – Barcelona
Claudio Bravo has been instrumental a record-breaking season for Barcelona – the only disappointment for the Catalans this season has been in the UEFA Champions League, a competition Bravo does not participate in. The Chilean enjoyed a fantastic 2015, racking up multiple medals, and has been remarkably consistent in the Barcelona goal.
That he is placed 7th on the list speaks more about the calibre of keepers ahead of him rather than any particular flaws in Bravo’s game, and the fact that Barcelona’s style of play rarely requires Bravo to be called upon. Bravo has lost the Zamora trophy after winning it last year, and his weakness of parrying long range strikes back into dangerous areas came back to haunt the Chilean against Villarreal.
However, Bravo continues to be a calming presence when the Barcelona defence goes missing, and the worried face of Luis Enrique when the Chilean picked up an injury in the last month of the season put paid to the esteem with which he is held within the squad.
| 2015/16 Stats | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 35 |
| Goals Conceded | 23 |
| Clean Sheets | 18 |
| Saves (League only) | 68 |
| Saves Per Goal (League only) | 3.1 |
| Penalties Saved / Conceded (League only) | 0/1 |
| Distribution accuracy (League only) | 86% |
6 Petr Cech – Arsenal
It’s a testament to Petr Cech that despite a horrible start to his Gunners career against West Ham, the Czech has ended the season with the Arsenal fans in a panic if he’s not in goal. Despite spending a month out with injury, playing behind a centre-back pairing that has been lacklustre and inconsistent this season, Cech has picked up the Golden Glove award, keeping 16 clean sheets in the league season.
John Terry asserted before the season that Cech would earn Arsenal 12-15 points; while Cech has not been as amazing between the sticks as normal, the Arsenal man has earned the Gunners a fair few points for sure – including stunning saves against Bournemouth, Liverpool and Stoke.
The 34-year-old has displayed a weakness at his near post, conceding multiple times from low efforts from range – an issue that might concern Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, but which is offset by the presence the Czech veteran brings to the Arsenal goal.
| 2015/16 Stats | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 41 |
| Goals Conceded | 42 |
| Clean Sheets | 19 |
| Saves (League + UCL only) | 91 |
| Saves Per Goal (League + UCL only) | 2.4 |
| Penalties Saved / Conceded (League + UCL only) | 0/2 |
| Distribution accuracy (League + UCL only) | 61% |
5 Jan Oblak – Atletico Madrid
It’s a credit to Jan Oblak that his being 5th on the list of the best goalkeepers of the season feels harsh. The Slovenian has probably the best statistics of any goalkeeper this season, yet one can point that he is fortunate in being behind probably the best defence in Europe, with Diego Simeone moulding the Atletico Madrid backline into a formidable, unbreachable outfit.
Oblak has the most clean sheets of any other keeper in this list, garnering a shutout a staggering 31 times in 50 games, breaking multiple La Liga records along the way, including the least number of goals conceded in a La Liga season. Indeed, the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League provided the perfect microcosm of Oblak's greatest strengths and weaknesses.
The Atletico shot-stopper made a couple in incredible reflex saves against Real Madrid in the final, but displayed his reluctance to collect the ball in the air in the semifinals against Bayern Munich. There is also some merit to the allegation that Oblak lost Atletico the Champions League; with all of Madrid’s penalties going to his weaker left side – with Oblakguessing wrong each time.
| 2015/16 Stats | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 50 |
| Goals Conceded | 26 |
| Clean Sheets | 31 |
| Saves (League + UCL only) | 85 |
| Saves Per Goal (League + UCL only) | 3.56 |
| Penalties Saved / Conceded (League + UCL only) | 2/13 |
| Distribution accuracy (League + UCL only) | 53.5% |
4 David De Gea – Manchester United
For all the misery and allegations of boredom surrounding Manchester United this season, David de Gea has been one of the few bright spots of Louis van Gaal’s recently concluded tenure at Old Trafford. When a Twitter meme floats around with an image of De Gea and Martial captioned ‘Manchester United Team Photo 2015/16’ – one can be sure that the Spaniard was critical to United this season.
Indeed, prior to the FA Cup final, De Gea rated this the best season of his career, an assertion that was justified by the Spaniard winning United Fans’ ‘Player of the Season’ award for the third year in succession. Indeed, such has been De Gea’s consistency that he also picked up the BBC Match of the Day ‘Save of the Season’ award for the third year in a row – his stunning stop against Liverpool gaining 19% of the votes.
De Gea has marshalled a shaky United backline into a statistically successful one, but was let down when Smalling conceded an own goal in the final minutes of the Premier League season, thus denying the Spaniard the Premier League ‘Golden Glove’ award for the most clean sheets, with Petr Cech winning.
Notwithstanding that, De Gea’s performances have made him the most coveted keeper in Europe.
| 2015/16 Stats | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 49 |
| Goals Conceded | 48 |
| Clean Sheets | 19 |
| Saves (League + UCL + UEL only) | 100 |
| Saves Per Goal (League + UCL + UEL only) | 2.38 |
| Penalties Saved / Conceded (League + UCL + UEL only) | 0/4 |
| Distribution accuracy (League + UCL + UEL only) | 71% |
3 Manuel Neuer – Bayern Munich
For a goalkeeper to have come closest to breaking the stranglehold Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have over the Ballon d’ Or is no mean feat. Then again, Manuel Neuer is no mean goalkeeper – such has been his form that the German has been praised for redefining the role of goalkeeper.
However, this has come with a certain negative – if Neuer does not repeat his staggering feats every year, having set the bar so high previously, there are many who will label it a poor season. Indeed, there is some merit to Neuer being further down this list - the German's aura of invincibility has disappeared with errors in the Champions League against Arsenal, Juventus and Benfica.
Yet, Neuer has the capability to not let the errors affect him, being absolutely rock solid in the league as Bayern romped to the Bundesliga title, a reflection of his manager’s struggles in Europe and success domestically. Neuer is only bettered in the clean sheets stakes by Jan Oblak, garnering a staggering 27 shutouts this season.
| 2015/16 Stats | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 49 |
| Goals Conceded | 29 |
| Clean Sheets | 27 |
| Saves (League + UCL only) | 67 |
| Saves Per Goal (League + UCL only) | 2.48 |
| Penalties Saved / Conceded (League + UCL only) | 1/1 |
| Distribution accuracy (League + UCL only) | 83.5% |
1 Gianluigi Buffon – Juventus
For a man named Superman, Gianluigi Buffon’s powers have not been on the wane despite his growing age. The 38-year-old veteran still boasts reflexes that would put most on this list to shame and backs that physical superiority with a wealth of experience guarding the Juventus goal, leading the Bianconeri to a stunning League and Cup double in Italy.
It seemed a far-off scenario when Juventus’ nightmarish start to the season left them languishing a few points above the relegation zone. The veteran displayed his leadership skills with an impassioned speech in the dressing room, sparking off a run of results that propelled Juventus up the table.
The Italian maestro has broken all sorts of records as well, setting the record in Serie A for the most minutes without conceding (973), becoming the second most-capped player in Juventus history while equaling his personal record for clean sheets in a season (21). Amidst the records, there have been multiple moments of magic, a stunning double save against Balotelli, denying Sterling to keep Juve in the game against Manchester City – and much more.
It’s no wonder that Gigi was voted Juve’s player of the season by the fans, despite Paolo Dybala’s exploits; nor is it a wonder that he is the joint-best keeper of the 2015/16 season.
| 2015/16 Stats | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 44 |
| Goals Conceded | 26 |
| Clean Sheets | 25 |
| Saves (League + UCL only) | 85 |
| Saves Per Goal (League + UCL only) | 3.27 |
| Penalties Saved / Conceded (League + UCL only) | 1/2 |
| Distribution accuracy (League + UCL only) | 78.5% |
1 Keylor Navas – Real Madrid
Keylor Navas is an extremely apt model of the role fortune can play in a footballer’s career. The Costa Rican was all set for a spell on the sidelines as Real Madrid chased David de Gea in the summer of last year. However, the transfer infamously broke down at the last second, which meant Navas was the first choice keeper for probably the biggest club in the world.
Given the demonstrable paucity of faith shown in him, most keepers would crumble - but Navas is made of sterner stuff. The Costa Rican dusted himself off after an uncertain spell in 2014/15 and proceeded to show exactly why Real Madrid erred in chasing David de Gea. The sight of Navas charging forward and closing down a striker after Madrid’s defence went walkabout became incredibly common, with crucial saves against AS Roma and Celta Vigo being particularly memorable.
Navas is the only keeper to deny Antoine Griezmann from the penalty spot this season, and while he wasn’t the hero in Real Madrid’s UEFA Champions League final, the presence of the Costa Rican might have surely deterred Juanfran as he stepped up to miss that fateful penalty. It’s that very word ‘presence’ that Navas has come to earn – the sight of him, arms aloft, praying to his god is also the most calming sight for Real Madrid fans, who know that their ‘god’ in goal will make everything alright.
From an uncertain future waiting in airports to the best goalkeeper of the 2015/16 season, Keylor Navas has come a long, long way.
| 2015/16 Stats | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 43 |
| Goals Conceded | 30 |
| Clean Sheets | 21 |
| Saves (League + UCL only) | 102 |
| Saves Per Goal (League + UCL only) | 3.4 |
| Penalties Saved / Conceded (League + UCL only) | 5/5 |
| Distribution accuracy (League + UCL only) | 71% |
