Gary Neville and former Manchester United team-mate Ben Foster have expressed very different views on who the best goalkeeper in the Premier League is right now
Gary Neville is at odds with a former Manchester United team-mate over who is the best Premier League goalkeeper.
Neville recently picked his Premier League team of the season so far alongside fellow Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher. The former United star chose Nottingham Forest’s Matz Sels, who has registered the most clean sheets this term with ten, in goal.
Meanwhile, his old Liverpool rival went for Arsenal’s David Raya, who currently has eight shut-outs under his belt. However, ex-United stopper Ben Foster has argued that Aston Villa’s Emi Martinez is the best right now, not only in the Premier League but in the world.
It was notable that neither Foster nor the two Sky pundits opted for Liverpool’s Alisson Becker as their first choice. The 32-year-old was previously regarded as one of the top keepers in world football, before experiencing several injury setbacks in recent years.
But Foster, who spent five years at Old Trafford between 2005 and 2010, did make it clear that he rates Alisson just behind Martinez. The former Wrexham stopper explained his logic in the latest episode of his ‘Fozcast’ podcast.
Foster said: “The two best goalies in the world right now are Alisson (Becker) and Emi Martinez, but Martinez for me is the best goalie in the world. If I had to pick a goalie for any one game, I’d have Emi Martinez.
“Liverpool fans, please don’t hate me for this because I think Alisson is the second best goalie in the world. I’m not saying he’s rubbish, but I’m saying Emi Martinez is probably just ahead of him at this moment in time.”
Foster’s endorsement should come as welcome news to Martinez after his name was recently left out of an announcement of players who had been named in the EA Sports Team of the Year. The Premier League sent out a tweet congratulating Arsenal’s William Saliba, Manchester City’s Rodri, Chelsea star Cole Palmer and Liverpool duo Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah on being named in the line-up.
However, the English top flight forgot to include Martinez, who responded by replying to the post with a picture highlighting his own inclusion. The image showed a briefcase lifted up, with a yellow and blue trophy inside a polystyrene casing, along with a picture of the Argentine and his FIFA card rating of 94 above it.
Foster has previously spoken out about his time playing alongside Neville, revealing how his old team-mate used to negotiate his own Manchester United contracts without the help of an agent.
Speaking to talkSPORT in 2022, he said: “When I was at Manchester United when I was younger, I remember I was up for a new contract and I actually grabbed Gary Neville and said ‘Listen, I’m going for a new contract and I need a bit of advice’.
“He went ‘who’s your agent?’ and I told him and he went ‘why do you need an agent?’ And I went ‘well, I’m 23-years-old, I don’t really want to be going in with Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill and trying to do my own contract’.
“He then said ‘well, I do my own contracts’ and I’m thinking ‘well you’re Gary Neville though’. Isn’t that the most Gary Neville thing you’ve ever heard in your life?”
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