The legends have aged and passed away, but the talent is still lacking.
Martinez was booed at the Ballon d’Or ceremony
The French public behaved rudely, because guests and world champions are not treated like that. When Emiliano Martinez received the award for best goalkeeper of the year, the crowd greeted the announcement of the winner’s name with a roar. The Yashin Trophy was presented to the goalkeeper of Aston Villa and the Argentine national team by his father, but even the presence of an elderly man on the stage did not stop the audience from booing and hissing. The French and the guests at the ceremony behaved very badly.
Strange behavior, because Martinez’s hooligan antics in recent years and the moral pressure on players during penalty shootouts do not mean that the goalkeeper had no reason to win a valuable prize. Here we are talking about the best goalkeeper of the main tournament of the last football season: now the prizes are awarded for periods from summer to summer, and not for the calendar year, but definitely not for the best goalkeeper on the planet. A strong and experienced goalkeeper, but not a legend of the game.
Emiliano Martinez has failed to break into Arsenal’s solid squad. Where do the laurels of Buffon, Casillas and Neuer belong to him? But the hooligan deserved the Yashin award, because everyone remembers his exploits in the finals of Argentina and France. “Dibu” is a hero, but not the world’s leading goalkeeper. Perhaps such a person temporarily does not exist. There have been periods in the history of football where there was no consensus on who was the best goalkeeper on the planet. And this has always meant that the most talented were not at their peak.
Donnarumma has not yet reached Buffon’s level
There is no one who is in the top three goalies year after year. Now Martinez has been chosen, clearly ahead of Ederson, winner of the treble with Manchester City, and Buna, another hero of the World Cup in Qatar, Moroccan winner of the Europa League with Sevilla. The year before Courtois won without conceding a goal, because everyone remembered the save in the Champions League final against Liverpool. Then came two Brazilians, Alisson and Ederson. First Donnarumma was awarded for his exploits at Euro 2020, then came the Senegalese Mendy.
But Eduard didn’t stay at Chelsea, he now plays in Saudi Arabia. And then the third was Jan Oblak, who did not decide to move to the difficult Manchester United, and remains faithful to Simeone at Atlético. Even Alisson’s victory in 2019 does not mean that Liverpool definitely have the best goalkeeper in the world. Ederson and his rival in the Brazilian national team reach the final more often. But even the experienced Courtois with titles at Real Madrid and the talented Donnarumma are clearly not in first place.
The Italian is only 24 years old, he can grow a lot, but he has not yet repeated the winning experience of Buffon and Neuer. Many times legends have become the best goalkeepers in the world, just like Casillas. Shortly before that, Oliver Kahn was the first, so in the new century it is easy to collect four goalkeepers who turned out to be the best in their own right. Also, don’t forget hockey player Cech; Petr, together with Van der Sar, are close to the same level. But the youngsters have not yet grown as much as the legends, Donnarumma is not without reservations the best goalkeeper in the world.
The goalkeepers don’t even stand out in terms of market value
There are many caliphs for an hour among the doormen. For example, Maignan did not play for his native team PSG, sat behind Lloris in the French national team. Mick relatively recently, even though he is already 28 years old, has become an elite goalkeeper. It is significant that even the most expensive goalkeeper is no longer available. Transfer experts identify four: Courtois, Maignan, Donnarumma and Costo of the Portuguese international, valuing their contracts at 45 million euros. At the same time, Costa was not taken Manchester Unitedhe preferred to hire Onana.
The Cameroonian’s errors describe the general trend well. Unfortunately, goalies are not as functionally and mentally monolithic as the legends of the last generation were. Courtois also had a weak spell in the Chelsea shirt. Ederson and Alisson stand out for their stability, but for first place in the world they need either a resounding success from Brazil, which hasn’t happened for a long time, or victories from Manchester City and Liverpool after serious defensive errors and personal performances of goalkeepers, and this too is rare.
Even though the Brazilian goalkeepers will play great, there will be Haaland, Salah, De Bruyne, Szoboszlai, Dias and van Dijk on the pitch. Unfortunately, for connoisseurs of goalkeepers, there are enough heroes without guards. But even if we only evaluate goalkeepers without taking discrimination into account, we see a transition between generations. There are great goalkeepers over thirty years old: Courtois, Ederson, Oblak, Alisson and ter Stegen. None of them are number one at this time, Yashin’s heir to this sinful land, Lev Ivanovich, was again called the best in history.
Many talented goalkeepers lack consistency
Young kids are growing up who have not yet become stable and impeccable goalkeepers. At Arsenal, Ramsdale ended up on the bench. Arteta prefers newcomer Raya as a starter; the Englishman has started to have psychological problems and is thinking of leaving. At Chelsea Sanchez is trying to prove himself, but Georgian Mamardashvili, Russian Safonov, French Meslier and Ukrainian Trubin could also find themselves in big teams in the major leagues in the coming years. There is no incredible class gap between the top 20 goalkeepers in the world.
If you look at the percentage of saves, the first in the elite leagues is the Polish Bulka from Nice, a former goalkeeper PSG. The trio includes Inter veteran Sommer and the goalkeeper PSG Donnarumma. But these statistics rather reflect the nature of the teams’ play, which does not allow a large number of quality chances to their opponents. Of course, if Gianluigi took Italy to Euro 2024 and reached the Champions League final PSGbecoming a playoff hero like Courtois in the past, he will win the Yashin Trophy next year.
But there is no guarantee that this will happen, and the companies of the French championship are still divided in two, which is partly right, because Ligue 1 missed the table of UEFA Dutch championship, indicating modest results in European competitions. The moment has come when the legendary Buffon watches football on TV, because he has finished his career and the heir has not yet arrived. Donnarumma is a logical candidate, but he must decide on his future. It’s not worth spending your entire career in Ligue 1.
