Former Nigeria skipper, Vincent Enyeama, is the sixth best goalkeeper in Europe for the 2015/16 season according to a recent survey by Swiss-based CIES Football Observatory group.
The ranking was done taking into account the number of goals conceded per match, number of minutes per goal, number of passes per match, number of saves per match, number of saves per goal conceded and the percentage of saves.
Enyeama, 33, has been the only bright spot for his French club, Lille, this term – with 15 clean sheets in 35 games.
His fantastic form has catapulted Les Dogues from the foot of the table to sixth with one game at hand.
Enyeama’s heroics is only bettered by illustrious goalkeepers like Manuel Neuer of Bayern Munich, Jan Oblak of Atletico Madrid, Gianluigi Buffon of Juventus, Kevin Trapp of Paris Saint-Germain and Claudio Bravo of Barcelona.
Completing the top 10 is Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris, Alphonse Areola of Villareal, Keylor Navas of Real Madrid and Pepe Reina of Napoli.
Interestingly, the most capped Nigerian player in history is ranked above Barclays Premier League trio, David De Gea of Manchester United, Arsenal’s Petr Cech and Joe Hart of Manchester City.
The former Enyimba goalie narrowly missed out on winning silverware with Lille this season as they lost 2-1 to PSG in Saturday’s French League Cup final.
Enyeama abruptly quit the Super Eagles in 2015 after a publicised fall out with former Nigeria coach Sunday Oliseh.
He has a record of 101 caps for Nigeria – winning the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, as well as appearing thrice at the FIFA World cup.
Enyeama comes up against Angers SCO, FC Lorient, Guingamp and AS Saint-Etienne in his final four games of the season.
Top 10 goalkeepers in Europe
- Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich)
- Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid)
- Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)
- Kevin Trapp (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Claudio Bravo (Barcelona)
- Vincent Enyeama (Lille)
- Hugo Lloris (Tottenham)
- Alphonse Areola (Villareal)
- Keylor Navas (Real Madrid)
- Pepe Reina (Napoli)
