5 best under-23 goalkeepers in the world
Football fans would forgive a striker if he misses nine chances but scores the winning goal in his tenth attempt. But a keeper will go down as a villain even he fails to make an easy save.
An outfield player gets a second chance to rectify his mistakes but keepers rarely get second chances. Concede one sloppy goal and the pitchforks come out in full force.
However, it is ironical that keepers are not often held in as high regard as an outfield player.
We are privileged to have some incredible keepers in this generation. Manuel Neuer, David de Gea, Hugo Lloris, and Petr Cech are regarded as the best in the game right now, but what about the future? We take a look at five of the best young keepers who have what it takes to become greats of the game in the future.
#5 Jordan Pickford
Sunderland are going through a troublesome season this time around and might not manage to turn things around this time like they have done in the last few campaigns. David Moyes’ boys hardly had anything good to show for during this campaign, but one positive in this season has been the emergence of young English keeper, Jordan Pickford.
The 22-year-old started this season as the deputy to Vito Mannone but got his break due to an injury to the first-choice keeper. Since then, the youngster hasn’t looked back and it seems like he has a bright future ahead of him.
(Video Courtesy: Valon Kataroshi YouTube Channel)
Without Pickford in this season, Sunderland’s fate could have been much worse. It’s a shame that the young keeper had an injury setback to disrupt his golden form. The Englishman has made as many as 3.63 saves every game this season which is an excellent figure. Another area where he excels in is his distribution which is evident from his average pass length of 53.37 m.
Just 22, Pickford has what it takes to become a brilliant keeper in the future. His good run of form was awarded a senior call-up to the English national team and he could be the No. 1 for England in the future.