It really seems that polls these days are created much more for the purpose of sparking debate and argumentation; and not for providing legitimate ranking. When you rank the best goalkeepers in the world, as France Football did this week, via a panel of goalkeeping greats, you should arrive at some type of defensible hierarchy that reflects reality.
When the end result has David de Gea seventh in the world and third in the Premier League among #1s, then it’s hard to make a case that that has happened here.
Here’s what the end result looked like, as re-posted by the Daily Mail.
1. Manuel Neuer (Germany and Bayern Munich) 30 points
2. Gianluigi Buffon (Italy and Juventus) 13 points
3. Thibaut Courtois (Belgium and Chelsea) 9 points
4. Hugo Lloris (France and Tottenham); Jan Oblak (Slovenia and Atletico Madrid) 7 points
6. Keylor Navas (Costa Rica and Real Madrid) 5 points
7. David de Gea (Spain and Manchester United) 4 points
8. Marc-Andre Ter Stegen (Germany and Barcelona) 3 points
9. Samir Handanovic (Inter Milan) 2 points
Source: France Football magazine
Not sure what these guys have been watching, but it’s far from the first time that De Gea has been snubbed regarding greatest goalkeeper acclaim. FIFA The Best 2017 snubbed him as well. United fans were understandably irate over that, and one imagines that they won’t be too thrilled with this poll either.
All that De Gea can do is just keep performing at an elite of the elite level like he did this past weekend at Arsenal. De Gea was essentially burning up social media with his dominance, as he tied the Premier League record for single game saves. He even saved Romelu Lukaku from being shredded, as the Belgian almost scored an own goal.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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