The ceremony of Ballon d’Or will not only reward the best footballer on the planet for the year 2021. The trophy for the best goalkeeper will also be awarded among ten contending goalkeepers. Inherited from the name of the famous Soviet footballer Lev Yachin, the only goalkeeper to have won the Ballon d’Or, in 1963, this award was created in 2019 to promote goalkeepers, often behind in relation to offensive players. The Brazilian Alisson (Liverpool) is the defending champion. Here are the three favorites for this year.
Édouard Mendy (29 / Chelsea)
The best goalkeeper in the Premier League. Since leaving Stade Rennais for Chelsea, Édouard Mendy has been simply irresistible. In sixty matches with the Blues, the Senegalese international has conceded only 31 goals and spent 36 games without getting the ball in his nets, a staggering total. Within a solid team and very well in place defensively, the 29-year-old goalkeeper shines with his consistency and knows how to be decisive on the little intervention he has to perform, the mark of the greats.
–
Édouard Mendy is an insurmountable wall with Chelsea. © AFP
He also won the Champions League with Chelsea against Manchester City (1-0) and achieved nine clean-sheets in the competition, a total only reached by Santiago Canizares with Valencia (2000-2001) and Keylor Navas with the Real Madrid in 2015-2016. Mendy also left on a very high basis with only 4 goals conceded in twelve Premier League matches.
Keylor Navas (34 years old / PSG)
If PSG had a good run last year in the Champions League under the leadership of Kylian Mbappé (defeated in the semi-final against Manchester City), he also owes Keylor Navas a great deal. The Costa Rican goalkeeper was decisive in the round of 16 against FC Barcelona, especially during the return match where he delivered a recital within a collective adrift and thus preserve the qualification of his people. Messi in particular came up against him on the penalty spot.
–
Keylor Navas has been a world reference for several seasons. © EPA-EFE
Against Bayern Munich he once again showed himself to be imperial. More broadly, the former Real Madrid goalkeeper brings great serenity to the Parisian rearguard through his experience. In Ligue 1, PSG did not finish better defense, ahead of Lille, but the addition could have been much higher without its 34-year-old goalkeeper. Despite enormous competition from Donnarumma since the resumption of the season, Navas retains playing time although he may appear less imperial.
Gianluigi Donnarumma (22 years / PSG)
PSG can therefore boast of having in its workforce two of the best goalkeepers in the world. Indeed, Navas and Donnarumma share the playing time since the start of the 2021-2022 fiscal year and the Italian could legitimately hope for better. Because the 22-year-old arrived with great fanfare this summer crowned with the title of European champion with his selection and the trophy for best player in the competition.
–
Gianluigi Donnarumma has gained ground in recent months. © AFP
The former goalkeeper of AC Milan will have diffused a lot of confidence during the Euro and he will remain above all forever the one who offered the second title of European champion of Italy by stopping the last penalty of the session of shoot to the net. His status has inevitably changed in the eyes of observers and the general public and made him the number one favorite at the Yachine Trophy. Small clue and not the least: he is the only goalkeeper named among the thirty shortlisted for the Ballon d’Or …
The complete list of the Yachine Trophy:
Thibaut Courtois (BEL / Real Madrid)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (ITA / AC Milan, PSG)
Ederson (BRE/Manchester City)
Samir Handanovic (SLN/Inter Milan)
Emiliano Martinez (ARG/Aston Villa)
douard Mendy (SEN/Chelsea)
Keylor Navas (CRI / PSG)
Manuel Neuer (ALL / Bayern Munich)
Jan Oblak (SLN / Atlético de Madrid)
Kasper Schmeichel (DAN / Leicester)
– .
