Gary Neville: Courtois will be better than Neuer, De Gea is Manchester United's most important player

Thibaut Courtois handles the ball during Chelsea’s 0-5 win over Schalke 04 at the Veltins Arena.

In his latest editorial for the Telegraph, former Manchester United captain and Sky Sports Pundit Gary Neville expressed his opinions on the current crop of Premier League goalkeepers, who he believes are unrivalled by any other leagues in the world.

"Joe Hart, Fraser Forster, David de Gea, Hugo Lloris, Thibaut Courtois, Cech and probably Tim Howard would all be on my list in a debate,” he wrote. “Manuel Neuer of Bayern Munich is the stand-out keeper in world football but the Premier League’s all-round collection cannot be matched.”

Thibaut Courtois will go past Manuel Neuer

However, it was Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois who impressed the former defender the most. Neville strongly believes the Belgium has the ability to take over Manuel Neuer’s crown of being the best goalkeeper the world in the coming months.

“Courtois has the talent to become the best goalkeeper in the world in the next 12 to 18 months,” he wrote on Courtois. “I believe he will go past Neuer. The player of the season so far, for me, is not Sergio Agüero but Chelsea’s new No1, who has brought a smile to my face. And not many goalkeepers make me smile.”

“Watch Courtois’ starting positions when the ball is crossed [including set-pieces]. As he steps out he has already anticipated where the crosser is aiming it and is standing there already when it arrives. It is a fantastic ability. I will always argue for catching over punching and Courtois destroys the myth that punching is always a better option,” he added,

David De Gea is Manchester United’s most important player

David De Gea has been perhaps the only consistent player in the Manchester United locker room for the past two seasons, and Neville hails him to be the Red Devil’s most important player.

"De Gea is the player I would say Manchester United could least afford to sell," he wrote. "His improvement is enormous. In a Monday Night Football piece, a couple of years back, I pulled him up on his mistakes against Spurs, because I thought his errors would stop United winning the league. They had conceded 29 goals in 19 games."

The Spaniard has been heavily linked with Real Madrid for quite a while now and is sighted as long-term serving Iker Casillas’ permanent replacement in the team.

“I see speculation that Real Madrid want to buy him for £25m,” he added. “He would be the last person I would sell, as Manchester United manager, for any amount of money. After that Spurs game people remembered the criticism but failed to recall that I also said he could go on to be one of the world’s best. He just needed to develop that physical maturity and decision making.”

“Now, you wouldn’t sell him at any price, and Manchester United should be looking to lock him down for the next five to seven years. He is winning games for them now.”