Man Utd have one representative in the top 20 most expensive goalkeepers of all time, but reports suggest they want to break the record with a €90m bid.
1) Kepa Arrizabalaga – £71.6m/€80m (Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea, August 2018)
Despite never coming close to impressing at Stamford Bridge, the world’s most expensive keeper has racked up over 100 Premier League appearances and more clean sheets than Antti Niemi, who is actually 51.
2) Alisson – £67m/€75m (Roma to Liverpool, July 2018)
“Chelsea changed managers and didn’t play in the Champions League. I’ve also always admired Liverpool’s history. This is a club with five European Cups in their trophy cabinet. I really wanted to be part of that history,” Alisson said of his decision to join to the Reds instead of the Blues in the summer of 2018. After winning it all at Anfield, it’s hard to argue that he made the wrong choice.
3) Thibaut Courtois – £35m/€38.8m (Chelsea to Real Madrid, August 2018)
Courtois’ desire to leave Chelsea sparked the three most expensive goalkeeper transfers in history. After starring in the World Cup, the Belgian forced a move to Real Madrid and has eight trophies to show for it in the following five years. And now Man Utd want him to break the record.
4) Ederson – £34.7m/€40m (Benfica to Manchester City, June 2017)
Claudio Bravo gave it a shot, but it went so well that he lost his place mid-season to Willy Caballero, so Pep Guardiola went out and put all his eggs in the basket on an uncapped 23-year-old with a career-high 74 caps. . Fair call.
5) Gianluigi Buffon – £32.6m/€51.9m (Parma to Juventus, July 2001)
For almost 16 years, Buffon reigned as the world’s most expensive goalkeeper – and it didn’t take a little inflation and conversion nonsense to dethrone him. Juventus got their money’s worth in 22 trophies, a record number of Serie A clean sheets and a historic amount of Champions League draws.
Federico Chiesa was only four days old when the buffon made his debut 😳.
Approx. 23 years later, Chiesa scored the winner in the Coppa Italia final, which was Buffon’s last game for Juventus and, to date, the last trophy Juve have won.
Buffon also won the UEFA cup with Fede’s father Enrico 😅. pic.twitter.com/FENwhtqVH5
– MA26 (@MA26EDITS) 18 June 2023
6) Jasper Cillessen – £31.4m/€35m. (Barcelona to Valencia, June 2019)
Valencia finished fourth in the two seasons before spending a small fortune on a 30-year-old goalkeeper who made five La Liga appearances in three years with Barcelona; Los Che came 9th, 12th and 9th again before Cillessen departed.
7=) Jordan Pickford – £30m/€34m (Sunderland to Everton, June 2017)
There was mild disbelief at the time and many remain unconvinced, but Everton signed Jordan Pickford following his relegation to the Championship with Sunderland and no one person has played a bigger role in ensuring the same fate has not befallen the Toffees since.
7=) Aaron Ramsdale – £30m/€35.5m (Sheffield United to Arsenal, August 2021)
Successive Premier League relegations with Bournemouth and Sheffield United did not deter Arsenal, who planned to bleed Ramsdale in slowly before I realized he is really good.
9) Alex Meret – £26.25m/€35m (Udinese to Napoli, July 2018)
A Coppa Italia winner’s medal, save from Paulo Dybala in the final shootout, and a Scudetto after fighting his way back from a rotation role to become a regular starter again – that’s not a bad return.
10) Manuel Neuer – £24.3m/€30m (Schalke to Bayern Munich, June 2011)
Bayern Munich supporters quite amusingly protested the signing of Neuer due to some silly grudge against Oliver Kahn. Eleven Bundesligas and a couple of Champions Leagues could have won them by now.
11) Francesco Toldo – £23.85m/€28.4m (Fiorentina to Inter, July 2001)
The prospect of following Buffon was reportedly one of the reasons why Toldo turned down a move to Parma during the great Italian goalkeeping carousel of 2001. The Gialloblu bought Sebastien Frey from Inter instead, leading Toldo straight into the arms of I Nerazzurri for the same fee Parma had previously agreed with Fiorentina, who replaced the departing Italian international Arsenal champion and Liverpool legend Alex Manninger.
12) Net – £23.3m/€26m (Valencia to Barcelona, June 2019)
As part of the bloated Cillessen deal, Barcelona received Neto in exchange as a backup to Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
13) Bernd Leno – £22.3m/€25m (Bayer Leverkusen to Arsenal, June 2018)
Arsenal’s signing of a German goalkeeper brought back all sorts of fond memories, but Leno was neither sullen nor invincible. He replaced Petr Cech before being phased out for Ramsdale himself, as the circle of life dictates.
14) Edouard Mendy – £22m/€24m (Rennes to Chelsea, September 2020)
He came, he saw, he looked truly brilliant at times, he won the Champions League, Super Cup, Club World Cup, Africa Cup of Nations, FIFA Men’s Best Goalkeeper Award and Champions League Goalkeeper of the Season award within a few months in a row, he had some contractual disagreements, he lost his place, he traveled to Saudi Arabia. What a whirlwind.
15) Pau Lopez – £21m/€23.5m (Real Betis to Roma, July 2019)
With not a single competitive appearance for Spurs in an ill-fated 2016/17 loan under his belt, Lopez bounced back with a season at Real Betis impressive enough to catch the eye of Roma, who he left to join Marseille for around half of Roma’s first outlay two and a half years later.
16) Juan Musso – £19.4m/€20m (Udinese to Atalanta, July 2021)
A beacon of consistency in Serie A’s bottom mid-table soon became a hub of reliability in the country’s top goalkeeping circles.
17) Emil Audero – £19.2m/€20m (Juventus to Sampdoria, February 2019)
One appearance for Juventus – the last game of the 2016/17 season – bled into a Serie B loan campaign with Venezia, then another temporary spell which Sampdoria made permanent as soon as they could, Samp not letting go of the 26- years old ago.
18) David de Gea – £18.9m/€21m (Atletico Madrid to Man Utd, June 2011)
A weedy 20-year-old became one of the world’s best before our eyes, but a man too often called out for his heroism over the past decade has stayed long enough to become a villain most want to get rid of.
READ MORE: Onana, Costa, Pickford? Nine candidates to replace David De Gea as next Man Utd goalkeeper
19) Aaron Ramsdale – £18.5m/€20.5m (Bournemouth to Sheffield United, August 2020)
Sheffield United were in League One when they sold Ramsdale to Bournemouth for £700,000, but the Blades skipped the Championship Cherries in 2020 and took the keeper straight back for a small profit. He was their Player of the Year in relegation.
20) Emiliano Martinez – £17m/€18.5m (Arsenal to Aston Villa, September 2020)
Martinez has rarely discussed how Arsenal never gave him a fair chance since leaving north London. The Argentine has proven his point with a World Cup winner’s medal and enough time-wasting bookings to feed a small village.