Man Utd: Ranking Premier League Goalkeepers From Worst To Best

5. Fabien Barthez

As a result of his successes with France at the World Cup and European Championship in 1998 and 2000, Manchester United signed Fabien Barthez as the big-name replacement for Peter Schmeichel in 2000. Here, Sir Alex Ferguson was slightly more successful in his long-winded pursuit of a replacement for the Great Dane and Barthez seemed the real deal for long spells. Known for his erratic behaviour, the Frenchman was something of an expert penalty saver in that he used mind games to put off the taker by walking from one post to the next beforehand. Barthez performed brilliantly during his first season at United and quickly became a crowd favourte due to his aforementioned actions, and he won two Premier League titles with the Reds. But like so many more on this list, he too was known to make mistakes despite his undoubted brilliance. Barthez received wide-spread criticism in 2003 when United crashed out of the Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid, after Ronaldo's opener beat him at the near post. He was promptly dropped and this proved his final appearance for the club, with Roy Carroll taking his place and Barthez returning to former club Marseille.