Neuer may actually claim the title as the greatest goalkeeper of all time . He is all round amazing player .

When asked on french tv during the world cup trophy ceremony if he thought neuer was the best GK in the world, wenger said that in his opinion, he was the greatest goalkeeper of all time. That's how good he is, wenger is no 22 year old on a football forum talking out of his arse (like myself), the man has seen a lot of football. I don't think there are that many people that are as knowledgeable on football as wenger, and I respect his opinion the most.

Imo Neuer should have gotten best keeper AND best player of the tournament. If that's possible. Every game he played I thought "this guy is a madman and a genius". Btw when do you think is he getting his ballon d'or ?

No doubt he is "the **greatest goalkeeper"; "one of the best defenders" and "a good Midfielder when he plays"** :D

I absolutely agree and if Wenger says so I just do not know who can disagree .

Well , it would have been more fair if he got player of the tournament award as well , but not Messi . However, I doubt he will get Ballon Dor , especially when Messi and Ronaldo still playing in their prime . If it was two separate trophies ( Ballon Dor and FIFA player of the year ) like it was before then he would have got it this year . And Also if FIFA was little less bias when they define " Best Player of the year " .

World football has not seen such a goalkeeper since Lev Yashin ended his career and it will be shame if it goes unrecognized .

@marcus I actually believe that Neuer will eventually get a ballon d'or. Goalkeepers have longer careers, and he will outlast messi and ronaldo. What do others think ? Does he deserve to be regarded as the best player in the world ?

Best keeper right now, certainly, but there have been better ones over history for me.

Lev Yashin played in the exact same style that Neuer did (half-goalkeeper, half-sweeper), and was notorious for saving shots from every angle. Yashin also saved 151 penalties during the course of his career, far more than any keeper, and kept over 300 clean sheets (easier to do now because of organized defenses..... imagine trying to keep a clean sheet in the 50's and 60's. 300 CS's back then is like 600 clean sheets now).

Neuer needs more time to be considered to be on the same level as keepers like Banks, Zoff, but never Yashin. He'll be better than Casillas and Buffon in a matter of 4 years (remember.... those two were also considered to be god-like keepers in their time), but it's still far too early to tell for sure.

The reason I say he will never surpass Yashin is because Yashin strutted his stuff 60 years *before Neuer. He was the model goalkeeper, the one who everyone bases their game on now. He invented modern goalkeeping. He was so far ahead of his time that now, some 60 years later, we are finally debating of a player who might eventually be on his level in 10 more years*.

That's the reason why players like Pele, Di Stefano, Garrincha, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Eusebio, and Puskas are so highly regarded. Not only are they impeccably talented, but they were miles ahead of the players of their time. It's because of them that football has come so far, and has been so defined. Beating Yashin is not possible in my mind, but Neuer might just claim to be the most individually talented goalkeeper in history by the time his career is finished. Most talented is acceptable, but 'greatness' is a different matter entirely.

Regardless of that, I think Neuer is probably the best keeper in the world right now, and should win a Ballon d'Or, but won't. The simple fact is that attacking flair is given more attention than any defending or goalkeeping.

Last defender to win the Ballon d'Or: Fabio Cannavaro in 2006.
Last midfielder to win the award: Kaka in 2007.
Last goalkeeper to win the award: Lev Yashin in 1963.

Oliver Kahn heritage...

Btw I should make my point and clear my mistake here. I said "No doubt he is the greatest goalkeeper" but my statement was wrong. Because I didn't watch Lev Yashin as much as Neuer. But I know Yashin was voted the best goalkeeper of all times.

@Dynastian "and kept over 300 clean sheets (easier to do now because of organized defenses..... imagine trying to keep a clean sheet in the 50's and 60's. 300 CS's back then is like 600 clean sheets now)."

I don't know about that mate. Yes that's really hard to keep clean sheets that time against good opponents in Europe and in his own league. But that times weak teams were much weaker than this time. We should consider that too I think.

@Emrecan

Interestingly, I did some research, and this is what I found

15 clean sheets were kept out of 70 individual matches in the '58 World Cup. (21%) Brazil kept 4 clean sheets.
20 clean sheets out of 64 in the '62 World Cup. (31%) Brazil kept 2 clean sheets.
18 clean sheets out of 64 in '66. (28%) England kept 4 clean sheets.
19 clean sheets out of 64 in '70. (30%) Brazil kept 2 clean sheets.

Comparatively,

37 out of 128 in '02. (29%) Brazil kept 4 clean sheets.
48 out of 128 in '06. (38%) Italy kept 5 clean sheets.
43 out of 128 in '10. (34%) Spain kept 5 clean sheets.
37 out of 128 in '14. (29%) Germany kept 4 clean sheets.

Clean sheets are indeed easier to keep now, and the winning team also concedes less goals. I'll do a thread about this information on the World Cup sometime later.

Great search mate. That numbers are interesting. I agree about National teams World Cup clean sheets. But I am still not sure about Europe Competitions and his league.
As I see, he only played for Dynamo Moscow in his club career. And I think it was easier to keep clean sheets for the club base. For example in the Europe, Champion Clubs' Cup ; you can see most of the teams probably won by 4-0, 2-0 even There are too many 6-0 . But still the teams that lost 4-0, 2-0 or even 6-0 could make a win in the other match . I am not just talking about 3, 5 matches. Most of the matches were like that. Just for an example:

That's the first page I opened up on UEFA

You are definitely right about this "easier to do now because of organized defenses" Yes, those years defenses were really unorganized but mostly for one team in a match.

And that one I just wanted to share, it's kinda funny :D

Btw I wrote "you can see all the teams probably won by 4-0, 2-0 even There are too many 6-0 . But still the teams that lost 4-0, 2-0 or even 6-0 could make a win in the other match . I am not just talking about 3, 5 matches. Most of the matches were like that." before I opened up UEFA page.

And that would be great if you make a thread about World Cup clean cheets. That looks interesting.

Neuer is so complete, it could be even possible to say he's the best of all time. Have to be one of the best though. There have been so many goalkeepers along the years. But in terms of versatility I'd say he's the best of all time.

The game this days has become extremely tactical not only defense area is defending , it is every player are defending like one . So , yeah I think I can agree that Lev Yashin most likely had a tougher days keeping a clean sheet .