Enyeama ranked world’s 18th best keeper

Super Eagles captain, Vincent Enyeama, has been ranked the 18th best goalkeeper in the world in 2015 by United Kingdom newspaper, The Telegraph.

In a poll conducted by the media outfit on its website, votes were cast to determine who the best keeper in the world was and the Lille goalkeeper made the list of top 20 goalkeepers in the world.

Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer is in first place followed by Manchester United’s David De Gea and Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois. Joe Hart of Manchester City is fourth while Gianluigi Buffon of Juventus came fifth.

Other goalkeepers in the top 20 are Petr Cech of Chelsea, Keylor Navas and Iker Casilas of Real Madrid, Hugo Lloris of Tottenham Hotspur and Salvatore Sirigu of Paris St. Germain.

Victor Valdes of Manchester United, Pepe Reina of Bayern Munich, Diego Lopez of AC Milan, Samir Handanovic of Inter Milan, Wojciech Scezceny of Arsenal, Rene Adler of Hamburg, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Claudio Bravo of Barcelona and Southampton’s Fraser Forster complete the list.

Enyeama has had an astounding season in the Ligue 1 with English giants Liverpool reportedly scouting the Nigerian keeper ahead of a £3m deal at the end of the season.

The Reds’ scouts have been impressed with the 32-year-old’s performances after watching him in action.

Enyeama became only the second Nigerian footballer to attain the 100-cap mark, when he featured for the Eagles in the 1-0 defeat to Uganda in an international friendly in Uyo in March.

Meanwhile, Enyeama has said he is not disappointed by his club’s inability to win any trophy in the outgoing season.

Lille are eighth in the French Ligue 1 table thereby missing out on the chance to play in next season’s UEFA Europa League but the goalkeeper, who also missed out on the Best African Player in the French League, toldfootballlive.com that he was already preparing for next season.

“I didn’t win any championship or trophy but I want to thank God, it was an amazing year for me as a player,” he said.

“The planning for the next championship has to start now and I think that we are ready to start preparation for the forthcoming season.”

Enyeama has kept 16 clean sheets for Lille this season but has conceded 40 goals in 37 games. During the 2013/14 season, Enyeama kept 11 consecutive clean sheets, only conceding a goal after 1,062 minutes, which made him 114 minutes shy of equalling Gaëtan Huard’s Ligue 1 goalkeeping record of 1,176 minutes of clean sheets set in 1993.