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It is not wrong to assume that it must require some special nerves to be a goalkeeper in football. It demands less physical involvement in the game as far as time is concerned compared to an outfield player and that is exactly why the job is so difficult. Between the posts, one is stable, not frantic, overlooking the progression of the game, and in a matter of seconds the attack is at your doorstep.
The goalkeepers, who lack momentum unlike the outfield players, are forced to produce excellent reflexes and if they fail in that split second, they bear the brunt. It is difficult to be employed between the sticks, because eventually one needs to keep their mind ticking all the time.
That is not to say that this difficult and meticulous job wasn't perfectly performed by the stars of the game. In fact, some of them absolutely owned this position between the sticks, even as they aged and lost their natural agility and reflex action. Even at the time of retirement, the market looked at them as respectable options and were willing to pay a decent sum to avail their services.
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On that note, here are the five most valuable goalkeepers at the time of their retirement:
Disclaimer: All values are as listed on Transfermarkt
#5 Victor Valdes - £1.8 million
A much loved and fondly remembered servant of the Catalans, Victor Valdes was a legend for Barcelona. He was part of their family for nearly 20 years, starting out in the La Masia academy. Valdes steadily climbed up the ladder, one step at a time, moving from Barcelona's C team to their B team and finally made his debut for the first team in 2002.
The Spaniard was known for his competitive nature and was a lively figure in goal, shouting at his team-mates from the back, he was quite demanding and also motivating. Valdes made a total of 535 appearances with Barcelona's senior team before leaving for Manchester United in 2014.
He kept a whopping 239 clean sheets for the Catalans but was prone to mistakes that sometimes cost his team. Nonetheless, on his day, it took something special from the opposition strikers to find the back of the net.
Valdes was supposed to leave Barcelona for AS Monaco as a free agent but the French team pulled out after he picked up an injury. The following winter transfer window in 2015, United got involved and signed the Spaniard to serve as a back-up for his Spanish compatriot David De Gea.
He only made two appearances for the Red Devils in the Premier League. Victor Valdes called it quits on his career in 2017 while at Middlesbrough. His market value at the time was £1.8 million. Even though a few clubs from Spain were interested in his services, should he prolong his career, the Spaniard decided against it.
#4 Stéphane Ruffier - £1.8 million
A fringe figure in the debate for the best Ligue 1 goalkeepers in history, Stephane Ruffier deserves a special mention on that list and many French football fans would agree. The Frenchman played in his country for the entirety of his career and retired as recently as January 2021.
He will definitely go into the hall of fame for Ligue 1 club Saint-Etienne, where he made 383 appearances in all competitions before retiring. Before joining them, Ruffier played for AS Monaco and also managed 117 appearances for them between 2005 and 2011. In total, he has kept 193 clean sheets in both domestic and continental competitions.
As a result, even at 34 when Ruffier was retiring, his market value was a decent £1.8 million just like Valdes. He wore the captain's armband for Monaco in 2010.
With the French goalkeeper injured, Monaco had real problems in keeping clean sheets and in his absence they were relegated. He had been linked with Premier League sides like West Ham United and Everton in the past and one can assume a move then would have commanded a greater fee.
#3 Petr Cech - £2.25 million
One look at the opposition goal, between the sticks, a tall figure with a protective headguard. The strikers knew they had to pull up their socks if they wished to get on the scoresheet after that sight. Petr Cech was the best goalkeeper in the Premier League and the logetivity of his career, the performances, his trophies and the stats all vouch for him.
At the time of his retirement in 2019, the 37-year old was valued at £2.25 million. Cech made a massive 494 appearances for Chelsea, the most by an overseas player, and it's a shame he did not reach the 500 milestone. The goalkeeper was a leader in the dressing room and on the pitch as well.
He was known for being pivotal in arranging his defense, giving them timely shouts to inform them of potential threats. The former Chelsea and Arsenal custodian won the Premier League Golden Glove award four times in his decorated career.
He holds the record for most clean sheets in the English top-flight, both overall (202) and in a single season (24). The Czech keeper was agile in his box, assured and strong while getting hands on shots fired at him and brilliant in one vs one situations. In his last season, Cech made 22 appearances for Arsenal and kept nine clean sheets in all competitions.
Cech's best performance undoubtedly came in the 2012 Champions League final. He saved a penalty from Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben in extra-time and denied a further two in the penalty shootout as Chelsea won their first Champions League title. The goalkeeper has a total of 18 trophies with Chelsea and Arsenal, which includes four PL titles and five FA Cups.
#2 José Francisco Molina - £3.47 million
There were goalkeepers who loved their goal and protected every inch of the net by staying firmly planted between the sticks. There are many who love doing that duty today as well. But most goalkeepers were not Jose Francisco Molina, who loved to leave his goal vacant at times and come forward or move around the box towards the threat rather than wait for it.
No one knew why the Spanish goalkeeper did it, sometimes he was successful, other times it led to silly mistakes, but he was not one to care. The 1995-96 season, his first with Atletico Madrid remains the best of his career. He won his first and only La Liga trophy and was also awarded the Zamora Trophy for his individual performance.
Molina made a total of 397 appearances in La Liga and kept 117 clean sheets. His final club was Levante, which he joined in 2006 for a one-year stint. He played 34 games and kept 11 clean sheets in his final season. His market value at the time of retirement was £3.47 million, quite astonishingly.
#1 Oliver Kahn -
A certain measure of Oliver Kahn's greatness was the fact that he was the only goalkeeper to twice make it to the podium in the race for the Ballon d'Or. There was a strong mood that he may finally win it and become only the second goalkeeper to do it after Lev Yashin. However, both times he finished third, as Michael Owen and Ronaldo Nazario lifted the award in 2001 and 2002 respectively.
He gathered 85 national caps for Germany and was instrumental for them in their 2002 and 2006 podium finishes in the World Cups. Kahn, known as 'Der Titan', was a formidable and imposing figure in goal. He hated losing and was one of the most fierce competitors at the elite level.
Imagine the size of his trophy cabinet given he boasts eight German Bundesliga titles, six DFB-Pokals and one each of Champions League, Intercontinental Cup and UEFA Super Cup. Kahn finished his career at Bayern Munich in 2008. At the time of retirement, the 39-year old still commanded a market value of £4.5 million, the highest for a retiring goalkeeper in history.
