Ranking the 10 best Serie A goalkeepers right now in 2023

Before that, Musso was actually even better as a young standout for the Friulani, saving 77.8 percent of the shots he faced in his first two seasons with the club since joining from Racing Club in Argentina.

Musso wasn’t even 26 years old when he posted those numbers!

9. Guillermo Ochoa, Salernitana

Guillermo Ochoa is pretty much a household name in world football after his heroics for the Mexican national team, particularly during the 2014 World Cup when El Tri made it to the knockout rounds – only to be knocked out by a last-second, blatant dive from Arjen Robben.

Nearly 10 years later, Ochoa is still one of the better goalkeepers in world football, and when he is at his absolute best, he is capable of making saves that so few keepers on this planet can.

In just a half-season with Salerntinana, Ochoa beat out another very good veteran goalkeeper, Luigi Sepe, for the starting job and kept his team in games with some of the best individual goalkeeping performances of the 2022/23 Serie A season.

Ochoa’s raw shot-stopping numbers were so impressive. He was one of the league leaders in post-shot expected goals prevented, probably because he has the reflexes and range to make impossible saves.

The only things that prevent Ochoa from being ranked higher are his mistakes and the fact that he doesn’t offer the same all-around ability that other goalkeepers do.

8. Michele Di Gregorio, Monza

Michele Di Gregorio is on the radar of the top clubs in Serie A, such as Roma, as he had a fantastic season for newly-promoted Monza, who proved to be a tough nut to crack.

Monza were buoyed by a great defense, including star center back Armando Izzo, and Di Gregorio was key to those efforts.

The 25-year-old saved 72.5 percent of the shots he faced in 2022/23. He should be on everyone’s list as one of the top up-and-coming goalkeepers in Europe.

7. Wladimiro Falcone, Lecce

Another solid goalkeeper for a side that was just promoted, Wladimiro Falcone was in the discussion as the best Serie A goalkeeper of the 2022/23 season – alongside Lazio’s Ivan Provedel and the Juventus duo – before Lecce’s performances tailed off at the end of the season.

Lecce still managed to stay up, though, and Falcone was the most valuable player in that effort with attacking leader Gabriel Strefezza.

Falcone was sixth in Serie A with a 73.7 save percentage, and what stood out the most about the 27-year-old was his consistency.

He was a top keeper in Serie B with a save percentage above 80 before joining Sampdoria as a solid backup to phenom Emil Audero, and now he has surpassed the now-relegated ex-Juventus prospect.

Falcone is one of the best keepers in Italian football, even if the vast majority of football fans have never heard of him.

6. André Onana, Inter Milan

Although André Onana can sometimes get himself in trouble on the ball by taking too many touches or trying to be too clever, the positives far outweigh the negatives, even if the negatives are easy to compile and post on Twitter for the fake currency that is “likes”.

Onana was a great story in 2022/23, emerging after an unfair suspension while with Ajax to return to his status as one of the best keepers in Europe.

Inter would not have made it to the Champions League Final without the upgrade he provided over declining veteran Samir Handanović, who was once the best goalkeeper in the league.

The 26-year-old saved 73.5 percent of the shots he faced in 2022/23, allowing just one goal per game and recording a clean sheet in one out of three matches.

5. Mattia Perin, Juventus

Mattia Perin may play for the biggest club in Italy, but the ex-Genoa star is more underappreciated than a true big-name goalkeeper in the Italian top flight.

Perin started some matches at the beginning of the 2022/23 for the Bianconeri with Wojciech Szczęsny out, and there was briefly a goalkeeper controversy. Now, Szczęsny has shown that he is even better than Perin and deserves to be starting, but it is true that Perin was so impressive that some Juventini were willing to see the (slightly) younger keeper get some starts in Turin.

At the beginning of the season, no goalkeeper had a higher save percentage than Perin’s 87.5. Not even Szczęsny, who was second in the league with the only other save percentage above 85.

Even though Perin has only started six matches, he still had the best post-shot expected goals mark in the entire league!

Perin is 30 and not exactly a prospect in goal, so it is somewhat strange to see an experienced keeper of his quality as a mere backup. But as we saw this season, Perin is still important to Juve.

You never know what can happen in football, as we saw with Szczęsny’s injury.

With just 0.66 goals allowed per game last season and a save percentage above 75 for the fourth time in his career, Perin is proving to be a top goalkeeper in his own right.

Based on his performances in 2022/23 and his displays in 2020/21 with Genoa, Perin has to be considered one of the best Serie A goalkeepers right now. A save percentage of 85 in a season is nothing to sneeze at, even in only 11 matches.

4. Alex Meret, Napoli

Alex Meret was one of the unsung heroes of Napoli while attacking superstars Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia soaked up all the praise.

Time and time again, Meret came up with the goods in clear one-on-one situations, producing some of the most ridiculous saves of the 2022/23 Serie A season. In terms of sheer individual quality, Meret may actually be the most talented goalkeeper in Serie A.

Last season, Meret was third in Serie A with a 74.7 save percentage, having saved nearly 80 percent of the shots he faced the season before despite not starting most of the matches.

Still only 26 years old, Meret is now an undisputed starter, recording a clean sheet in nearly half of the matches he starts.

Napoli could not imagine having anyone other than Meret in goal. He has truly ascended to become one of the top keepers not just in Serie A, but in Europe as well. At his age, fans can look forward to him staking his claim as the very best soon.

3. Wojciech Szczęsny, Juventus

Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny has been one of the best Serie A goalkeepers for several seasons.

Szczęsny’s career is quite fascinating. He began his career with Arsenal and was quite underrated. In the 2012/13 season at just the age of 22, Szczęsny saved nearly 76 percent of the shots he faced and allowed fewer than a goal per game.

He was loaned to Serie A’s Roma in 2015/16, immediately establishing himself as one of the best Serie A goalkeepers.

Szczęsny averaged exactly one goal per game allowed in his two seasons in Roma, setting a career-high 76.6 save percentage in his second season.

The most powerful club in Serie A, Juventus, were so impressed with Szczęsny that they quickly signed him for 17 million euros from Arsenal in order to make him the successor to Gianluigi Buffon.

Juve have quite a history of great goalkeepers, so Szczęsny moving to Turin was a huge deal for his career, especially considering Juve’s dominance of the league at the time.

It didn’t take long for Szczęsny to find his footing and become a transfer bargain at that fee. Szczęsny allowed just 0.53 goals per game in his first season with Juventus, starting 17 Serie A matches for the club.

His numbers continued to be gaudy in the following years, and he even saved over 80 percent of his shots in 2019/20.

But after an average 2020/21 season in which Juve, as a whole, were poor and barely made it into the top four, Szczęsny was the subject of transfer rumors.

Juve were interested in replacing him with Gianluigi Donnarumma on a free transfer, but they needed to find a way to sell the older Szczęsny.

There were not many available options, as most clubs that Szczęsny would be qualified for in terms of ability and wages already had a solution.

Juve tried to sell him to Dortmund, but they were wisely more interested in the younger Gregor Kobel, who has gone on to be an even better keeper.

So Juve struck out on Donnarumma, as he signed a major payday with PSG. The Bianconeri held onto Szczęsny, which wasn’t exactly a bad thing.

Even at the time, many Juventini were wary about giving up on Szczęsny for Donnarumma. Some thought Donnarumma would be an upgrade, especially in the long term, whereas others did not want to betray Szczęsny and saw him as being just as good.

Szczęsny has recovered his form. He was not as brilliant as he was a few years ago in the 2021/22 season, but he was still solid.

And this season, after recovering from an injury, Szczęsny was downright incredible at times, flashing that old form early in the season. He would finish the campaign with the league’s second-best save percentage at 75.3 and a clean sheet in one out of every two matches.

Meret is coming for his spot, but the veteran Juve man remains in a top-three slot.

2. Ivan Provedel, Lazio

This past summer, Lazio signed two highly-touted goalkeepers. Luis Maximiano started initially, but after being red-carded, the promising keeper from Granada was replaced by Ivan Provedel. And the latter has never looked back since.

Provedel made a name for himself in Serie A these last couple of seasons as Spezia’s shot-stopper. The 28-year-old was instrumental in keeping the Little Eagles in the top flight, saving nearly 74 percent of the shots he faced in his final season with the club.

Astute observers in Serie A were impressed with Provedel’s consistency and the quality of his saves. He was a true leader at the back for Spezia and often inspired them to victory.

Already, Provedel is having the same role with Lazio, showing the consistency that made the Biancocelesti so interested in signing the Italian goalkeeper.

In 2022/23, Provedel found a new level, proving that he could make the step up to Lazio.

Provedel had the best save percentage of any Serie A goalkeeper at 77.3 allowing just 0.79 goals per game for a Lazio side that exceeded expectations by finishing second.

Provedel might be the most underrated goalkeeper on this list, but fans around Europe should start to take notice of the emerging star goalkeeper at Lazio.

He is legitimately one of the best goalkeepers in Europe. With a save percentage near 80 and a clean sheet percentage above 50, Provedel’s numbers are up there with the best in the business.

1. Mike Maignan, Milan

Mike Maignan has already made a name for himself as one of the very best goalkeepers in world football.

His impact on Milan was perhaps most seen in his absence during the first half of the season when the Rossoneri struggled defensively and seemed to lack the vocal leadership he provided to an oft-inconsistent back line.

He is one of the most important and impressive goalkeepers on the planet. It was Maignan whose heroics helped buoy Lille to a remarkable Ligue 1 title victory in the 2020/21 season, unseating Qatar-backed PSG as French champions.

Lille had a great attacking partnership with Burak Yilmaz and Jonathan David, but the true heroes of the club were in the defense, specifically Maignan in goal.

As if that weren’t enough, Maignan was similarly vital in the Rossoneri finally winning Serie A in 2021/22. Yes, Rafael Leão was Serie A MVP – and deservedly so.

But Maignan’s signing helped Milan get over the edge and become the champions in an extremely tight, unpredictable Serie A.

Look at the stats. After allowing just 0.61 goals per game and saving nearly 80 percent of the shots he faced in 2020/21 with Lille, Maignan lit up his first season in Serie A with just 0.66 goals allowed per game and a jaw-dropping 81.2 percent save percentage.

Thibaut Courtois was the consensus best goalkeeper in European football for 2021/22 after helping Real Madrid win the Champions League, including making several heroic saves in the Final itself.

But Maignan was probably the second-best goalkeeper in the world behind him. For my money, he is the best goalkeeper in Serie A.