Top 5 goalkeepers in the world right now according to fans (2021)
Goalkeepers have always been key players for every team throughout every era of football that there has been. In spite of their importance to their teams, goalkeepers rarely receive plaudits when things go well.
Instead, when the tables turn, the goalkeepers receive lots of scrutiny from the media and football fans alike.
The last goalkeeper to win the Ballon d'Or was Russia's Lev Yashin in 1963, and no other custodian has achieved the feat since then. Due to this, a separate award was created for goalkeepers in 2019, known as the Yashin Trophy.
The winner of this year's Yashin Trophy is due to be announced on November 29th alongside the Ballon d'Or winner. Here is a list of the five best goalkeepers in the world this year, according to the fans' survey in the GOAL50 list.
#5 Emiliano Martinez
Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has had a brilliant 2021 on a personal level. The Argentine shot-stopper joined Villa from Arsenal for a reported £20 million in search of regular first-team football.
Martinez achieved a clean sheet record at Villa Park in the 2020-21 season with his 15 shutouts equalling Brad Friedel's record haul. His performance for Aston Villa in the Premier League saw him emerge as the third best goalkeeper in the league behind Ederson and Edouard Mendy.
Martinez also became the Argentinean with the most Premier League career clean sheets with 21.
Emiliano Martinez only received his first Argentina call up in June.
He's played 15 times, kept 9 clean sheets, won the Copa America and hasn't lost a single game 👏 https://t.co/q0dxaZIsuo
Martinez achieved his lifelong goal of representing his native Argentina, and even helped his country win its first trophy since 1993 by lifting the Copa America. Martinez was widely referred to as one of the world's best goalkeepers in 2021 and is in the running for the Yashin Trophy.
#4 Keylor Navas
Keylor Navas has maintained his stature as one of the world's best goalkeepers for the last seven years. The Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper performed excellently in the 2020-21 season despite the French giants surrendering the Ligue 1 title to Lille.
Keylor Navas has to be one of the most underrated Goalkeepers of the past decade.
Big performances from him virtually every time I've ever seen him.
Over the summer, PSG signed 22-year-old Gianluigi Donnarumma to rival Navas for the first-choice position, but the Costa Rica international has impressed for Les Parisiens. Navas remains as Paris Saint-Germain's first-choice goalkeeper and was included on the shortlist for the Yashin Trophy as well.