Serie A

FLIGHTS AND REFLEXES – TOP KEEPERS’ SEASONS

Di Gregorio was voted as the MVP between the sticks after a brilliant season at Monza, replacing Provedal as number one. Let’s look over the data, statistics and best moments from the best goalkeepers in the league

Italian football history stems from the decades of stars between the sticks for Serie A sides and this season was no exception for goalies that left a mark on our league. Michele Di Gregorio established himself as MVP - Best Goalkeeper of Serie A TIM 2023/24 according to the advanced analysis of Stats Perform, overtaking Szczesny and Carnesecchi in terms of the efficiency index. The Biancorossi number 16 adds his name to a list of prestigious individual winners, succeeding in chronological order: Samir Handanovič (2018/19), Wojciech Szczęsny (2019/20), Gianluigi Donnarumma (2020/21), Mike Maignan (2021/22) and Ivan Provedel (2022/23). Di Gregorio is the keeper who has avoided conceding the most number of goals (12.3) this season in the top 5 European leagues: 35 goals conceded compared to an Expected Goals On Target (Against) value of 47.3. The ex-Inter Primavera player made 127 saves in 33 appearances – the best in Serie A – and kept 12 clean sheets. The Brianzoli goalkeeper has proven to be a solid and reliable player, showing great consistency in his performances across the campaign and managing to unleash some brilliant displays: from the October game against Salernitana, to saving the two Florenzi shots at San Siro to the 9 decisive saves in Naples, to the series of miracles against Bologna and Torino. Di Gregorio’s exceptional season was topped off with two penalty saves, including the mad double save on shots from Vlahovic in the game against Juventus. On the list of top three best goalkeepers in the league, we also find Marco Carnesecchi and Wojciech Szczesny. The Atalanta keeper, born in 2000, has been a revelation this year in the dream season for the Bergamo side having won himself a spot in the Serie A TIM starting line-up ahead of the expert Musso. The ex-Cremonese man made 79 saves (15th in the rankings) in 27 appearances, walking away with 8 clean sheets. Carnesecchi showed up in a number of top-level tests, taking the sting out of four shots from Osimhen at the Maradona for example, and showed off some big penalty-saving skills, saving two. He was impressive against Pinamonti from the spot with the keeper managing to keep the same penalty out twice from the Sassuolo forward.

Aside from the two already mentioned, the only other goalkeeper to save two penalties this season was Alex Meret from Napoli. The Juventus goalkeeper, on the other hand, closed out his seventh season with the Bianconeri in style. With 81 saves (12th) in 35 games, the Polish keeper is the third for number of clean sheets (15). The highlights of his season are the two massive saves from the big game against Inter, first against Barella and then Arnautovic in the final moments, as well as the three saves on Cambiaghi in the home clash against Empoli.

Yann Sommer deserves a special mention, the goalkeeper of the Champions of Italy. The Swiss player has kept a clean sheet in 19 games this season with no non-Italian goalkeeper doing better in a single Serie A season in the history of three points for a win (19 also for Sebastian Frey in 2006/07, at Fiorentina). Moreover, in this time period (since 1994/95), Sommer is the Inter goalkeeper who has kept the most clean sheets in a single season (beating the record of 17 set by Julio César in 2009/10 and Samir Handanovic in 2017/18 and 2018/19).

Also stars of a great season were Milinkovic-Savic from Torino, second for number of clean sheets (18) and saves made (103), Skorupski from Bologna with 13 clean sheets and Falcone from Lecce, second for number of saves made with 125. (Photo LaPresse)