Premier League back-up goalkeepers ranked: Kepa over Onana, Liverpool man comfortably top

Jason Soutar 05 Sep 2025 7:42 AM

Giorgi Mamardashvili (Liverpool), Aaron Ramsdale (Newcastle), Kepa Arrizabalaga (Arsenal) and Karl Darlow (Leeds)

Here is our ranking of every Premier League No.2 goalkeeper. Does anyone know who Manchester United’s is? Because we sure don’t.

This list dramatically changes every year, with some back-ups fed up of that role, while others continue their weird career elsewhere.

Only three are the same as this time last year and one has moved to another club to sit behind Jordan Pickford in Everton’s pecking order.

Anyway, without further Freddy Adu, here goes…

20) Will Dennis (AFC Bournemouth)

Dennis has spent time on loan at Guernsey, Weymouth, Wealdstone, Slough Town and Kilmarnock, which says a lot about the state of Scottish football. His only appearance for the Bournemouth first team came in the 2020/21 FA Cup against Oldham Athletic.

Andoni Iraola didn’t trust him against Brentford in the Carabao Cup second round but the fact Dennis has been on the bench for the last 18 top-flight matches tells us that he is Djordje Petrovic’s back-up.

19) Karl Darlow (Leeds United)

Illan Meslier isn’t even a benchwarmer or cup goalkeeper for Leeds after being dropped by Daniel Farke for the Championship run-in last term.

Darlow’s error against Sheffield Wednesday cost the Whites a cup run, but more importantly, caused an embarrassing result at a Yorkshire rival. We’re not convinced by either Leeds back-up, as you can tell.

18) Mark Travers (Everton)

Travers joined Everton from Bournemouth in July and having cost a transfer fee (£4million), he’s definitely Jordan Pickford’s back-up.

The 26-year-old kept a clean sheet in the Carabobbins against Mansfield Town and played five times in the Premier League last season before being loaned out to Middlesbrough in January. He kept four clean sheets in 17 matches, conceding 20 goals overall for Boro.

17) Max Weiss (Burnley)

Signed from Karlsruhe in the German second division, Weiss has plenty of potential, but we can’t see him taking the No.1 shirt from Martin Dubravka any time soon.

16) Walter Benitez (Crystal Palace)

Another summer addition, Benitez left PSV Eindhoven to sign for Palace on a free transfer. It was a pretty quiet window for the Eagles as they prioritised their European football case with UEFA, but Benitez is a smart bit of business and became the club’s first off-season signing back on July 1.

15) Benjamin Lecomte (Fulham)

The handsome Frenchman was Fulham’s only summer signing for over five weeks, joining for a six-figure fee from Montpellier in late July. He’s not bad for 34 years old but we don’t think he’ll be pushing Bernd Leno to another level, or out of the team.

14) Sam Johnstone (Wolverhampton Wanderers)

Vitor Pereira has three 32-year-old goalkeepers to choose from. Lucky guy.

Johnstone was signed to usurp Jose Sa but didn’t impress and is now rotting on the bench. It’s a shame, because he looked like a brilliant goalkeeper for West Brom.

13) Anthony Patterson (Sunderland)

Patterson was Sunderland’s first-choice goalkeeper from 2022 to the end of last season, with the summer arrival of Robin Roefs moving him to the bench.

12) Jason Steele (Brighton & Hove Albion)

Steele displaced Chelsea’s current No.1 from the Brighton team, which will always be a little bit funny.

He deserved it, but even after some unconvincing displays from Bart Verbruggen in 2024/25, Fabian Hurzeler’s No.1 is going nowhere.

11) Hakon Valdimarsson (Brentford)

Brentford took six months and 31 matches to keep back-to-back clean sheets last term, but only needed three games under Keith Andrews. Caoimhin Kelleher didn’t concede against Aston Villa, three days before Valdimarsson’s clean sheet in the cup at Bournemouth.

The young Icelandic is highly rated but won’t get many opportunities to impress outside of the cups.

10) John Victor (Nottingham Forest)

West Ham pulled out of a deal to sign big John at the eleventh hour, which opened the door for Forest to bring him in. They signed four players from Botafogo in the summer transfer window, though none of them are expected to be regular starters straight away.

John impressed at this summer’s Club World Cup, but dislodging last season’s Golden Glove winner won’t be easy.

9) Antonin Kinsky (Tottenham Hotspur)

Tottenham signed Kinsky from Slavia Prague in January and he was instantly thrust into the starting XI with Guglielmo Vicario sidelined with a long-term ankle injury. The young Czech did pretty well but when Vicario returned, he was relegated to the bench.

It’s unlikely that the 22-year-old plays outside of the domestic cup competitions, but he’s a very capable back-up if Thomas Frank’s No.1 is unavailable.

8) Andre Onana (Manchester United)

We honestly have no idea what the United goalkeeper pecking order is, with Senne Lammens’ signing complicating matters further. Judging by Ruben Amorim’s performance as head coach, we’re not convinced he knows either.

United were also linked with John Victor and fancied a bit of Emiliano Martinez before landing on Lammens. He’s not expected to come straight into the starting XI and Altay Bayindir has started three out of three in the league this season.

Given Onana’s salary, it’s hard to see him being third choice. But given his ability, it’s hard to see him being first choice. Either way, he sits eighth here.

7) Alphonse Areola (West Ham United)

After a horrible debut and even worse home debut for Mads Hermansen, it was half expected that Areola would come back in to Graham Potter’s starting XI for the trip to Nottingham Forest, but that’s not what happened.

He got the Carabao Cup trip to Wolves and conceded three as the Hammers were knocked out by Wolves, which won’t have helped his case. We do rate Areola, though. He’s better than West Ham’s second-choice ‘keeper.

6) Kepa Arrizabalaga (Arsenal)

Arsenal’s signing of Kepa was obviously met with laughter as he was *another* Chelsea outcast snapped up by Mikel Arteta. But for only £5m, he’s a very smart addition.

The Spaniard is now at a stage of his career where he’s content with playing back-up for a Premier League title challenger. He’ll play in the cups and might get the odd Champions League league phase match, and after a solid season in between the sticks for Bournemouth, Gunners fans will be able to watch comfortably when he deputises for David Raya.

5) Filip Jorgensen (Chelsea)

We’ve not been left convinced by Jorgensen’s ability following a difficult debut season at Stamford Bridge. We’re still backing him to come good, but if he doesn’t impress in his rare appearances this term, he’s toast. Chelsea don’t mess around if a signing doesn’t look like a future Ballon d’Or winner within 18 months of joining.

4) Marco Bizot (Aston Villa)

Marco. Bizot.

3) Aaron Ramsdale (Newcastle United)

Ramsdale joined Newcastle on loan from Southampton, with an option to buy included in the deal. Given his clear superiority with the ball at his feet, we’re confident that he will usurp Nick Pope as Eddie Howe’s No.1 within the next two months.

2) James Trafford (Manchester City)

City’s third-choice goalkeeper, Stefan Ortega, is better than most here. He’ll surely move to a country where the transfer window is still open a little longer.

Anyway, on to Trafford, who rejoined the Cityzens from Burnley in the summer, was made No.1 for their first three Premier League fixtures, and then watched on as Gianluigi Donnarumma was signed. Gulp.

The Italian was incredible in PSG’s run to the Champions League last season and there’s no doubt he’ll be Guardiola’s first choice soon, if not right away.

That doesn’t take away from the fact that Trafford is a fantastic young ‘keeper.