Ranking every Man Utd goalkeeper in the Premier League era ft. De Gea and Schmeichel | OneFootball

It’s a fact that you need a quality goalkeeper if you want to win the Premier League.

GIVEMESPORT VIDEO OF THE DAY

Play Video

Just look down the years and there hasn’t been a bad goalkeeper that has lifted the Premier League trophy.

Peter Schmeichel, Petr Cech, David Seaman and Ederson all played major roles in helping their respective sides win the title on numerous occasions.

And just take Manchester United for example.

The Red Devils have won the Premier League on 13 occasions and have had top quality goalkeepers to call upon each and every time.

However, the club have also had some pretty dodgy shot-stoppers appearing between the sticks for them in the Premier League era - usually in campaigns in which they haven't won the league.

Therefore, with help from Planet Football, we’ve ranked the 23 goalkeepers that have appeared for United since the inaugural Premier League campaign.

Some have been class. Some have been…well, we’ll let you be the judge of that.

23 Massimo Taibi

Who can forget Taibi’s howler to allow Matt Le Tissier’s shot to hilariously roll through his legs?

A few weeks later, in his fourth and final league appearance for the club, he conceded five against Chelsea.

He was never seen again.

22 Nick Culkin

Not quite so infamous as Taibi but his United career was equally as bad. Culkin is actually a history-maker for holding the record for the shortest debut in Premier League history. He replaced Raymond Van der Gouw in stoppage time against Arsenal in 1999 and it was his only league appearance to date.

He actually joined non-league FC United Of Manchester in 2014.

21 Paul Rachubka

Like Culkin, Rachubka only made one league appearance - against Leicester when Fabien Barthez was injured in the warm-up.

Went on to play for a whole host of Football League clubs including Huddersfield, Blackpool, Leeds and Oldham.

20 Victor Valdes

It’s easy to forget that the Barcelona legend actually played for United even though it happened so recently. We say ‘played’ very loosely, though, as Valdes only made two league appearances.

He was last seen being relegated from the Premier League with Middlesbrough.

19 Joel Pereira

Pereira made one Premier League appearance at Man Utd before leaving the club permanently in 2021.

He’s currently without a club having left Dutch side, RKC Waalwijk.

18 Ben Amos

Another one appearance wonder in the Premier League. Sir Alex Ferguson did use Amos for cup competitions at times, though.

The 33-year-old is currently at Wigan.

17 Ricardo

One Premier League appearance, one penalty given away, one penalty save. That occurred after he came off the bench to replace Barthez against Blackburn in 2003.

The Spaniard did play in four Champions League games.

16 Kevin Pilkington

Pilkington was third-choice behind a certain Schmeichel - more on him later.

But he did make six Premier League appearances between 1992 and 1998.

He eventually left the Theatre of Dreams to play for the likes of Mansfield, Notts County and Luton.

He’s now the goalkeeping coach at Premier League club, Luton.

15 Andy Goram

United signed the then 36-year-old when Barthez and Van der Gouw were injured.

He played two games during the club’s 2000/01 title run-up and didn’t let Ferguson down.

14 Gary Walsh

Walsh made many of his 50 league appearances for the club before the Premier League era.

However, during the 1994/95 season, Schmeichel was ruled out for 10 matches with injury allowing Walsh a chance to play. He conceded just 12 goals during that time but soon lost his place to the Dane upon his return.

He went on to play for Middlesborough and Bradford after leaving the club.

13 Dean Henderson

After impressing on loan at Sheffield United, Henderson challenge De Gea for the No.1 shirt during the 2020/21 season. He did briefly manage to get a starting berth but soon returned to playing second fiddle. He spent the 2022/23 campaign on loan at Nottingham Forest and his long term future at Old Trafford is uncertain.

12 Anders Lindegaard

United signed Lindegaard for £3.5 million in 2010 and there was hope he would one day replace the ageing Edwin van der Sar.

It didn’t quite work out for the Dane, though, as he left after playing 19 Premier League games.

11 Sergio Romero

Romero was a superb back-up option for De Gea for six seasons. During that time, he only played seven times in the Premier League but on 61 occasions in all competitions.

10 Mark Bosnich

Many people will forget that Bosnich actually signed for Manchester United in 1989. He played three games before he returned to Australia and then Aston Villa.

He came back to United in 1999 and played 23 Premier League games as the club strolled to the title.

But then Barthez came in and Bosnich found himself out of favour.

Ferguson later called him “a terrible professional” in his 2013 autobiography.

9 Tomasz Kuszczak

Kuszczak was a decent back-up for Van der Sar for six years, making 61 appearances for the club - 32 in the Premier League.

Could never quite establish himself as a first-team regular, though.

8 Ben Foster

Another solid ‘keeper that just couldn’t make it as a No.1 at United.

Foster made 12 appearances in the Premier League and helped the club win the 2009 League Cup.

He now plays for Wrexham in League Two.

7 Roy Carroll

Will always be remembered for that comedy mistake against Tottenham at Old Trafford, allowing Pedro Mendes’ halfway line strike to cross the line - somehow getting away with it.

Remarkably, the Northern Irishman played 72 times for the club including 26 times in the Premier League during his final campaign.

6 Tim Howard

It looked as though Howard would be the man to finally replace Schmeichel as he played 32 times in his debut season.

However, it coincided with United finishing third in consecutive seasons as the American eventually lost his place to Van der Sar.

He did go on to play more than 400 times for Everton before retiring after a spell at Colorado Rapids.

5 Raimond van Der Gouw

The Dutchman was a reliable No.2 to Schmeichel for many years before he competed with Bosnich. He eventually played 60 times, helping the club to consecutive league titles during the 1999/00 and 2000/01 seasons.

4 Fabien Barthez

The loveable Frenchman was a regular for three seasons, helping United win two league titles.