Serie A, historically, has produced some of the leading custodians the game has ever seen.
Names of some of the goalkeepers who have graced the Italian top flight read like a who’s-who of the best number ones in the business and easily trip off the tongue.
Think Gianluigi Buffon, Angelo Peruzzi, Dino Zoff, Walter Zenga and Gianluca Pagliuca.
They may all be Italian but there have been plenty of non-Italians who have caught the eye too.
When asked to rank who I believe will be the top goalkeepers in the forthcoming 2025-26 season, this SBOTOP scribe had no hesitation either.
For whatever Serie A 2025 highlights are on their way over the next nine months, there are two pairs of ‘safe hands’ which stand out from the rest as far as I am concerned.
One such player is at Inter Milan and continues to excel as he prepares for only his third ever season in Italy after a career which he has shone, predominantly for his country (for whom he has been consistently outstanding) and in the Bundesliga with Borussia Monchengladbach.
As a colleague highlighted more than 18 months ago, Switzerland’s number one at Inter ‘fits like a glove’.
Although he had a brief spell at Bayern Munich from January 2023 after Manuel Neuer broke his leg during a ski trip, once he returned, Yann Sommer was offloaded after only 19 appearances.
After weeks of negotiations, Sommer was then sold to Inter Milan for €6.75 million following the departure of Andre Onana to Manchester United.
He had big shoes to fill as the Cameroon international excelled at the San Siro, but it is my view that they upgraded when they brought in Sommer, even at the age of 34.
Since then, he has helped the Nerazzurri to success in the Italian Super Cup, was part of the team’s 20th Scudetto success and was also named in the Serie A Team of the Year with 19 clean sheets in 34 league matches.
While Inter finished empty-handed last term, he was in fine form and was man of the match in their epic 4-3 Champions League semi-final second leg win over Barcelona.
The importance of having a good and reliable goalkeeper has long been noted in history.
Even top teams will be vulnerable without such a player and, despite this being a period of significant change for the club, the Serie A 2025 betting odds still make Inter second favourites for the title next season. Sommer is one of the main reasons why.
Another man who has moved to Italia and made the number one jersey his own since arriving in Florence last season is David De Gea.
One of the best goalkeepers the Premier League has ever produced, he has been a revelation for Fiorentina where he rocked up following a 12 month break from the game after more than a decade of fine service at Manchester United.
He has recently signed a three year contract extension, remains one of the best shot stoppers in the world and continues to prove it time and again; without his services, Fiorentina wouldn’t have qualified for the Europa Conference League next season.
Shortly after arriving at the club, De Gea kept out a pair of penalties and plenty more shots during a 2-1 win over AC Milan.
It marked the start of a run of eight consecutive Serie A victories for Fiorentina – only once before (back in 1960) had they achieved such a run in the Italian top-flight and De Gea played a crucial part in that.
During his sabbatical, the Spaniard kept up his own personal training, doing one-on-one work with a goalkeeping coach as well as playing padel, but there is a big jump to competitive action.
Before playing in Serie A, De Gea conceded three times on his actual Fiorentina debut, a Europa Conference qualifier at home to Puskás Akadémia, which ended 3-3.
Fiorentina barely scraped past the Hungarian side, requiring a penalty shootout after drawing both legs. They collected only one other win in their first nine competitive matches under the new manager Raffaele Palladino.
Yet Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance, has long been a city where footballing careers are reborn.
De Gea, almost overnight, provided renewed confidence to the backline and now he has reportedly turned down offers from European rivals to repay the loyalty he has been shown.
When he returns with the Viola to Old Trafford next weekend for a friendly, you can guarantee he will receive a hero’s welcome. In the country which has given us such great goalkeepers, the two best right now are a Swiss and a Spaniard – make no mistake!
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