10 Best Goalkeepers Under 25 In The World Right Now

Most centre-backs could probably deputise at full-back at a push, while many wingers could do a half-decent job upfront in an injury crisis. Goalkeeper, on the other hand, is a genuinely specialist position. No team can go without one, even for a single game.

So how come the man between the sticks rarely gets any love? The last goalkeeper to scoop the Ballon D'Or was Lev Yashin, who played for the now-dissolved Soviet Union, in 1963. Meanwhile, Gianluigi Buffon is still the all-time most expensive shot-stopper, moving back in 2001 for about £30m - which would just about buy you one of Neymar's kneecaps today.

Perhaps the problem here is that, relative to outfield players, 'keepers tend to reach the peak of their powers much later in their careers. While strikers typically enjoy their best form in their early-to-mid 20s, the guy at the other end of the pitch sometimes has to pass 30 before they start reaching the very top of their game (which is good news for 31-year-old Joe Hart).

Then again, there are a smattering of goalies who have bucked this trend over recent years, putting in the kind of penalty box-commanding performances you normally associate with players of a decade or more big match experience. Here are 10 that fit the bill.

Italy prospect Simone Scuffet has flown under the radar for overseas fans, largely because he hails from the same country as the incredible Gianluigi Donnarumma, who is almost three years younger and already being tipped as Buffon's sucessor for the national team.

Scuffet is also yet to fully establish himself as number one for his club side, Udinese, although at 21, there's not really any shame in that. Only an elite group of 'keepers get the number one jersey for a top division side so young.

In the limited opportunities he has received, he has dazzled at times and disappointed at others, making a string of brilliant saves one minute only to let himself down by dropping a clanger the next.

None of that is out of the norm for an up-and-coming outfield player, however - let alone a goalkeeper - and that's particularly true in Italy, where players have historically tended to peak much later than in other countries in Europe.