Man Utd’s Premier League Keepers: Ranked Worst to Best
Manchester United has had some outstanding goalkeepers over the years, but this has not always been the case in Premier League history.
Beyond Peter Schmeichel, Edwin Van der Sar, and David de Gea, United have not always had a secure pair of hands between the pipes, as they have utilized a variety of second- and third-string goalkeepers throughout the years.
Therefore, we have ranked all 23 goalkeepers who have appeared for the club in the Premier League. No credit for identifying who’s at the bottom…
23. Massimo Taibi
The Italian, whose name is synonymous with comedic goalkeeping, made his debut during the 1999-2000 season when both Mark Bosnich and Raimond van der Gouw were incapacitated.
In his league début against Liverpool, he conceded a goal after mishandling a free kick, but he recovered to make several crucial saves in a 3-2 victory and was named man of the match.
In a 3-3 draw with Southampton, he allowed a weak effort from Matt Le Tissier to pass through his legs, arguably the most infamous gaffe in Premier League history.
In his fourth and final league appearance, he conceded five goals against Chelsea, Manchester United’s first league loss in nearly a year.
21 years ago today @mattletiss7 hits the most feeble shot of his entire career…
— A Funny Old Game (@sid_lambert) September 25, 2020
… and poor Massimo Taibi forgets how to use his arms and legs.
The reactions behind the goal say it all. Sometimes life kicks you square in the plums.pic.twitter.com/6Sh9VtvYId
22. Nick Culkin
Culkin holds the record for the Premier League’s shortest début, having replaced Van der Gouw in stoppage time at Highbury in 1999. It was his only appearance in the league, which consisted of one free-kick.
The remainder of his career was unremarkable, but in 2014 he became the first player to play for both Manchester United and FC United of Manchester when he joined the non-league club.
21. Paul Rachubka
Rachubka made one league appearance as an adolescent, against Leicester, after Fabien Barthez sustained an injury in the warm-up. Kept a spotless record.
He went on to become a Football League stalwart and infamous figure at Leeds United after a 2011 horror show against Blackpool, in which he was substituted at halftime after committing three errors that led to goals and a teammate was sent off.
20. Victor Valdes
After United assisted him recover from an anterior cruciate ligament injury that ended his time with Barcelona, the Catalan club’s all-time leading scorer made just two league appearances for United.
Personal issues with Louis Van Gaal brought an end to his brilliant career.
Middlesbrough relegated him in his last season of football before the club released him in 2016.
19. Joel Pereira
The Portuguese is presently on his sixth loan away from Manchester United following Dean Henderson’s return.
In May 2017, Jose Mourinho gave Pereira a Premier League debut in a meaningless match against Crystal Palace at home. This remains his only Premier League appearance. He did not allow a goal in the 2-0 victory.
18. Ben Amos
Sir Alex Ferguson occasionally summoned on the academy product for cup games, but Amos made just one league appearance in 2012, a 2-0 victory over Stoke.
Following a career in England’s lower divisions, he is presently on the roster of Wigan Athletic.
17. Ricardo
In 2003, the Spanish international substituted for an injured Fabien Barthez in a league match against Blackburn. The first thing he did was concede a penalty, which he saved as David Dunn struck to his left. Display your brilliance.
16. Kevin Pilkington
As a youth, Pilkington was a devoted employee for six years and participated in the 1992 FA Youth Cup victory alongside more illustrious individuals.
In the Peter Schmeichel tenure, he was United’s third-choice goalkeeper and made only six league appearances between 1992 and 1998.
Later, Pilkington made over 300 appearances for both Mansfield Town and Notts County.
15. Andy Goram
In 2001, when Barthez and Van der Gouw were out injured and Goram was signed as an emergency measure, Barthez and Van der Gouw were out injured. He had already made over 500 appearances for Oldham, Hibernian, and Rangers by the time he was
36 years old.
As United closed in on the 2001 league championship, he started against Coventry and Southampton, conceding two goals in each contest.
The former Scotland international passed away at the age of 58 in July.
14. Kevin Walsh
The majority of his 50 club appearances occurred before the Premier League era, when United struggled to regain their dominance.
During the 1994-1995 season, when Schmeichel was injured, he made ten appearances. This was the only season in the first five years of the Premier League in which United did not win the championship.
13. Dean Henderson
Henderson chose to return to United and challenge David de Gea for the No. 1 jersey in 2020-21 after he excelled while on loan at Sheffield United.
The England international momentarily overtook De Gea in the second half of the season, but in 2021-22 he fell back behind the Spaniard in the pecking order.
Henderson secured a loan transfer to Nottingham Forest ahead of the World Cup, where he has already saved penalties from England teammates Harry Kane and Declan Rice.
12. Anders Lindegaard
Lindegaard was viewed as a potential future No. 1 when he was acquired by United in 2010, as the club prepared for life without the aging Edwin van der Sar.
Despite a few encouraging indicators, it became evident that he was incapable of being a successor and would have to settle for a support role. In his five seasons with the club, he made a total of 19 league appearances, including 10 during the 2012-13 championship season.
11.Sergio Romero
After serving as a substitute at Sampdoria and Monaco, Romero joined United in 2015 and spent six years as a reserve at the club.
He made just seven Premier League appearances for Manchester United in 2016-17, but he played in every Europa League game they won.
10.Mark Bosnich
Manchester United signed the Australian in the late 1980s, but released him when Schmeichel was acquired.
Bosnich was recruited back to Aston Villa in 1999 to replace Schmeichel after establishing himself as a dependable goalkeeper during his seven-year tenure.
When Fabien Barthez was brought in, he fell to third in the pecking order and failed to make an appearance as Manchester United successfully defended their title the following year. Ferguson described him as “a terrible professional” in retrospect.
9. Tomasz Kuszczak
Kuszczak’s tenure at Old Trafford, during which he made 26 appearances over the course of six years as Edwin van der Sar’s backup, coincided with great success.
United frequently suffered from a lack of communication between the Pole and the back four, most notably when he allowed Jermaine Beckford to score past him during Leeds United’s 2010 FA Cup victory.
Nonetheless, he was the starting goalkeeper for their League Cup victory that season.
8. Ben Foster
Foster was eventually granted limited opportunities by United after assisting the Hornets to promotion in 2006 and looking solid in the Premier League the following season. Foster was signed in 2005 but loaned to Watford for two years.
Foster established himself as a consistent Premier League presence elsewhere, but in three years at Old Trafford he made only 12 league appearances. However, he contributed to the 2009 League Cup victory.
7. Roy Carroll
The Northern Ireland international will forever be remembered for his gaffe against Tottenham in which he fumbled at Pedro Mendes’ cross and allowed the ball to cross the goal line.
If the referee had accurately allowed the goal, it would have been filed alongside Taibi’s gaffe in the annals of sports history.
However, he had an excellent record overall. He maintained a clean sheet in half of his 46 league appearances, lapses aside.
Happy 41st Birthday Pedro Mendes.
— A Funny Old Game (@sid_lambert) February 26, 2020
And Roy Carroll better send you a fucking decent card.pic.twitter.com/gRtxpLeh4X
6. Tim Howard
Over the course of a decade, the American demonstrated his dependability and comfort with Premier League football by making over 350 league appearances for Everton.
At United, his courage and personality led some to believe he would succeed Peter Schmeichel, but it was not to be. And his tenure in Manchester coincided with a period of decline for the club; in his only full season, Manchester United fell 15 points behind Arsenal’s Invincibles and then fell short of Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea.
5. Raimond van der Gouw
Arriving in 1996 from Vitesse Arnheim, the 6-foot-3 Dutchman has a case for being Manchester United’s most dependable back-up goalkeeper during the Premier League era, having performed admirably whenever Schmeichel was incapacitated.
After the Dane’s departure in 1999, he eventually received more opportunities and competed with Bosnich for the starting position. He made 14 appearances in 1999-2000 and 10 in 2000-01 as the club won consecutive league championships.
4. Fabien Barthez
The winner of the World Cup with France was considered the candidate to fill Schmeichel’s shoes, but he never convinced.
As much as anything else, he is remembered for his erratic behavior and individual errors, but he was a very effective goalkeeper and enjoyed success at Old Trafford. Two league championships in three complete years as number one is a respectable return.
3. David de Gea
De Gea is (or once was) arguably the greatest goalkeeper in terms of individual brilliance, but he is a victim of circumstance and therefore cannot rank higher on this list.
The Spaniard overcame a difficult start to excel in the 2013 championship victory, Alex Ferguson’s last. Since then, he has concluded his collection of domestic trophies by winning the FA Cup under Louis van Gaal and the League Cup under Jose Mourinho.
But United are too large of a club to be content with merely minor trophies. In the eight seasons since Ferguson’s retirement, they have not challenged for the Premier League title and have only reached the Champions League quarterfinals twice.
This is unacceptable for a goalkeeper whose remarkable reflex saves and shot-stopping ability put him in the conversation for the best in the world before errors crept into his game in recent seasons, with a strange tendency to be at his worst when United are at their best, and at their best when United are at their worst.
As the four-time Player of the Year at Old Trafford, things could have been even worse without him, despite the fact that many United fans are anxious to see him go.
2. Edwin van der Sar
After establishing himself as a sweeper for Louis Van Gaal’s undefeated Ajax in the early 1990s, his career was punctuated by a series of glorious peaks.
He ranks third overall, behind Petr Cech and Pepe Reina, with the highest games-to-clean sheets ratio of any Manchester United goalkeeper with over 50 Premier League appearances.
Given that this ratio encompasses four mid-table seasons at Fulham, it demonstrates how dominant United were during his time there.
Van der Sar was as fortunate to play behind peak Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic as they were to play in front of him as he was to be part of arguably the club’s finest Premier League defensive unit ever.
During his tenure at the club, they won four league titles and reached three Champions League finals, the first of which they won due to Van der Sar’s penalty save against Nicolas Anelka.
Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona outclassed them for a second time in 2011, and he was unable to retire like Peter Schmeichel with another title.
1. Peter Schmeichel
Schmeichel, along with the leadership of Roy Keane, the brilliance of Eric Cantona, and the once-in-a-generation “Class Of 92,” helped reestablish Manchester United as a genuine superclub.
Schmeichel was a pivotal figure under Alex Ferguson as Manchester United ended their 26-year wait for a league title in 1993 and established themselves as the most successful club of the Premier League era, establishing the standard for everything that followed.
In his final appearance at the Camp Nou, he lifted the Champions League trophy to complete the club’s historic treble. During his eight-year tenure at the club, he won five league titles.
The Dane’s aggressive, front-foot approach coincided perfectly with the introduction of the backpass rule in the Premier League.
Man Utd’s Premier League Keepers: Ranked Worst to Best
