Ranking the best goalkeepers from Europe’s ‘big five’

As the old saying goes, you have to be crazy to be a goalkeeper and the ones in this article must be the craziest in Europe.

We have gathered the best goalkeepers from the Premier League, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1, by finding those who have played at least 25 matches this season and ranking them based on their clean sheet percentage. 

If you want your team to sign a new consistent number one, look no further than this list. 

  

Premier League 

Liverpool narrowly missed out on the Premier League title on the last day of the season, but key to all of their successes in recent years has been their number one, Alisson. 

The Brazilian keeper has the highest clean sheet percentage of any keeper in the league this season, with 57.1%, but he has the likes of Van Dijk, Matip and Konate to thank for that too. 

Joint-top of the clean sheet chart is Manchester City’s Ederson, but unsurprisingly he has not had a lot to do this season in terms of saves, making just 60, the least of any Premier League goalkeeper with more than 30 appearances. Nevertheless, City and Ederson’s ability to not concede is something to be admired. 

Alisson Becker (Liverpool) 

Played: 35 

Clean sheets: 20 

Saves: 76 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 57.1% 

Ederson Morales (Manchester City) 

Played: 37 

Clean sheets: 20 

Saves: 60 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 54.1% 

Edouard Mendy (Chelsea) 

Played: 34 

Clean sheets: 14 

Saves: 73 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 54.3% 

Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur) 

Played: 38 

Clean sheets: 16 

Saves: 98 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 54.3% 

Vincente Guiata (Crystal Palace) 

Played: 34 

Clean sheets: 12 

Saves: 90 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 54.3% 

  

La Liga 

Real Sociedad have had a good season after qualifying for the Europa League. Arguably, their outstanding player has been their goalkeeper Alex Remiro, who is the only player in La Liga to have kept clean sheets in the majority of his games this season, with a percentage of 54.3%. 

He did make one costly error in the Basque derby against Athletic Bilbao, giving them a late equalizer, but he has made up for that tenfold with his consistency over the course of the campaign. 

It would also be wrong not to mention Thibaut Courtois, whose 16 clean sheets helped earn Real Madrid the La Liga title, and who could forget his man of the match performance in the Champions League final… simply incredible. 

Alex Remiro (Real Sociedad) 

Played: 35 

Clean sheets: 19 

Saves: 80 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 54.3% 

Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid) 

Played: 36 

Clean sheets: 16 

Saves: 90 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 44.4% 

Geronimo Rulli (Villarreal CF) 

Played: 32 

Clean sheets: 14 

Saves: 73 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 43.8% 

Bono (Valencia CF) 

Played: 31 

Clean sheets: 13 

Saves: 75 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 41.9% 

David Soria (Getafe CF) 

Played: 38 

Clean sheets: 14 

Saves: 91 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 36.8% 

  

Bundesliga 

Manuel Neuer has long been considered one of the best goalkeepers in the world and this season has been no different for Germany’s number one. In 35.7% of the games he has played he has kept a clean sheet, but he will no doubt have Bayern’s solid defensive outfit to thank for that too. 

Equal on clean sheets to him is Wolfsburg goalkeeper Koen Casteels, who has made 12 more saves than Neuer this season. Considering Bayern finished top of the league table and Wolfsburg finished 12th, winning 12 games compared to Bayern’s 24, it is arguably Casteels who has had the better season as his clean sheets have been vital to keeping Wolfsburg in a safe mid-table position. 

Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) 

Played: 28 

Clean sheets: 10 

Saves: 68 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 35.7% 

Koen Casteels (VfL Wolfsburg) 

Played: 28 

Clean sheets: 10 

Saves: 80 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 35.7%  

Mark Flekken (SC Freiburg) 

Played: 32 

Clean sheets: 10 

Saves: 112 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 31.3% 

Robin Zentner (FV Mainz) 

Played: 32 

Clean sheets: 10 

Saves: 85 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 31.3% 

Peter Gulasci (RB Leipzig) 

Played: 33 

Clean sheets: 10 

Saves: 82 

Goals conceded per game: 30.3% 

  

Serie A 

Inter Milan narrowly missed out on a second consecutive league title, finishing just two points behind their city rivals AC Milan. One player who was vital to that effort was Samir Handanovic, who had 17 clean sheets in a season where he started every game for Inter. 

He also made 96 saves, which is an unusually high number when playing for a team near the top of the league table. The 37-year-old is captain of Inter and is expected to extent his time at the San Siro with a new one-year contract extension. 

Samir Handanovic (Inter Milan) 

Played: 38 

Clean sheets: 17 

Saves: 96 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 44.7% 

 Salvatore Sirigu (Torino FC) 

Played: 36 

Clean sheets: 15 

Saves: 123 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 41.7% 

Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan) 

Played: 36 

Clean sheets: 13 

Saves: 92 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 36.1% 

Andrea Consigli (US Sassuolo) 

Played: 35 

Clean sheets: 12 

Saves: 114 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 34.3% 

Wojciech Szczęsny (Juventus) 

Played: 28 

Clean sheets: 11 

Saves: 78 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 39.3% 

  

Ligue 1 

Stade Rennais goalkeeper Alfred Gomis has the highest clean sheet percentage of the top five ranked keepers in Ligue 1, not conceding any goals in 40% of his appearances. But, the Senegal international has played only 25 games due to missing the end of the season due to injury. 

Perhaps more impressive than Gomis was Walter Benitez, who kept 14 clean sheets in 37 games in a season that for Nice’s standards was quite underwhelming, finishing 5th, but he was certainly a bright spark. 

The Argentinian-born player is currently being considered by Didier Deschamps for a call-up to the French national team ahead of the World Cup due to his impressive form, which could be possible given he has never played for the Argentinian first team. 

Alfred Gomis (Stade Rennais)  

Played: 25 

Clean sheets: 10 

Saves: 43 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 40% 

Walter Benitez (OGC Nice) 

Played: 37 

Clean sheets: 14 

Saves: 106 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 37.8% 

Matz Sels (RC Strasbourg) 

Played: 37 

Clean sheets: 13 

Saves: 89 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 35.1% 

Alexander Nubel (AS Monaco) 

Played: 38 

Clean sheets: 11 

Saves: 106 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 28.9% 

Pedrag Rajkovic (Stade Reims) 

Played: 38 

Clean sheets: 11 

Saves: 118 

Clean Sheet Percentage: 28.9%