David de Gea, not on the Fifa 'The Best' goalkeeper list
The Manchester United goalkeeper didn't appear on the extended list of stoppers and some people are questioning how this is possible for Spain's number one.
Gianluigi Buffon won Fifa's The Best Goalkeeper award yesterday. The Juventus goalkeeper had a spectacular season, leading Juventus to the Champions League final and conceding very few goals. Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) and Keylor Navas (Real Madrid) completed the podium.
Buffon, Neuer, Navas in top three
These were the three top finalists that stood out from the rest with the voting split given in Fifa's official results sheet showing that Buffon obtained 42.42% of the votes, Neuer 32.32% and Navas 10.10%. But in that sheet, the absence of one keeper in particular was highlighted by journalist Simon Peach.
What is striking about the list, echoed by Peach, is that Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea does not appear: "Where is De Gea?" he asks.
The Spaniard's name is not among the fourteen that can be seen and several of those who do appear are not even voted for. Courtois (Chelsea), Lloris (Tottenham), Oblak (Atlético Madrid), Ter Stegen (Barcelona) and Allison (Roma) grab the remaining votes, with the latter only managing to capture 0.01%.
De Gea not even in the listing
Looking further down we see that in ninth position, with 0% of the votes, a list of goalkeepers who appear to be simply in alphabetical order, but Spain's number one goalkeeper, who should appear between Claudio Bravo and Gianluigi Donnarumma, is missing. The others that do are Beiravand (Persepolis), Blanco Antúnez (Pachuca), Bravo (Manchester City), Donnarumma (Milan), Ederson (Manchester City / Benfica), Ondoa (Ajax) and Subasic (Monaco).
For some reason, no one felt it necessary to include one of the best goalkeepers of the Premier League. Maybe it was due to United finishing in seventh place in the league, while winning the Europa League with Romero between the sticks.
