You can’t win the biggest competitions in the world without a trusty goalkeeper between the posts. While they don’t earn the weekly acclaim that the big-money forwards earn, PSG goalies have long been of a high class.
Spanning back to before the money started pouring in from the Middle East, Paris Saint-Germain has laid claim to a collection of the best shot-stoppers of their respective eras, from legends of French football to modern Italian greats.
From a strong collection of competitors for this list, here are the greatest PSG goalkeepers of all time.
Bernard Lama (1992-2000)
Having made his way up the Lille ranks, Lama bounced between three French clubs in as many years before Paris Saint-Germain saw enough to hand him their starting job on a five-year deal.
From 1992/93 to 1995/96, he was imperious between the posts for PSG, helping them to the Coupe de France three times and the club’s first – and for a long time, only – dose of European glory.
In his very first season, Lama set the club record for clean sheets in a single season with 29, obliterating Joël Bats’ record that was set only four years earlier. He’d pad his top spot with 26 clean sheets in 1993/94, too.
Lama’s time with PSG wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, however, as a serious knee injury followed by a ban for cannabis consumption sent him off to West Ham United on loan for the second half of the 1997/98 season.
He did enough with the Hammers to get called up to the French national team for the 1998 World Cup in France, playing backup to Fabien Barthez and securing a medal.
The goalie would use that momentum to power up a couple more grand seasons for Paris Saint-Germain, finishing his time at the club with 318 games, 138 clean sheets, four cup triumphs, and what was then a rare Ligue 1 trophy.
In an era of much more competitive French football and with only one Ligue 1 triumph to that time, the illustrious shot-stopper Bernard Lama gets a place atop this list of the greatest PSG goalies of all time.
Salvatore Sirigu (2011-2017)
A relatively low-key signing while the new owners made Parc de Princes their home, Salvatore Sirigu was initially brought in as a backup option. He’s soon secure the increasingly big-budget squad’s starting spot in net.
The 6’4’’ Italian proved himself worthy of the sudden extremely high expectations, backstopping the team-in-transition to the Ligue 1 title in just his second season – PSG’s first league win since 1993/94.
He may have cost less than £4 million, but Sirigu was a big part of the club becoming perpetual Ligue 1 favourites and even entering the outrights conversation of the Champions League betting.
Sirigu remained in the crease for 190 games, putting up 26 clean sheets in 2012/13 to remain second only to Lama for the most in a single season – doing so in nine fewer appearances.
In the end, Sirigu had hoisted 13 domestic titles with PSG, including back-to-back campaigns of the domestic quadruple in 2014/15 and 2015/16.
Gianluigi Donnarumma (2021-2025)
Now a significant part of the backing behind Manchester City being among the sport betting favourites to take the Premier League crown, Gianluigi Donnarumma was instrumental in PSG finally conquering Europe.
Arguably, this should have been achieved much sooner, given that the 6’5’’ shot-stopper arrived alongside Sergio Ramos, Georginio Wijnaldum, Danilo Pereira, Achraf Hakimi, and, of course, Lionel Messi in 2021.
Donnarumma would share the crease with Keylor Navas that season, giving him only 24 starts. The following season, he was the first-choice goalkeeper and stuck around just long enough to see the team to its ultimate goal.
Over four seasons, Donnarumma played 161 games and kept 56 clean sheets. Importantly, he was a huge factor in PSG’s UEFA Champions League triumph, frustrating Arsenal relentlessly in the 2024/25 Semi-Finals.
Once one of the highest earners at PSG, while he collected nine domestic trophies – four of which were Ligue 1 – it’s the Champions League win that cements Donnarumma among the greatest Paris Saint-Germain goalies of all time.
Joël Bats (1985-1992)
Having just arrived in the French top flight, AJ Auxerre turned to Joël Bats to keep them in the league in 1980. It’d prove to be a savvy choice, and the 5’10’’ Frenchman would remain their go-to goalie for five years.
Bats helped to establish Auxerre in the league, but his greatest, most historic successes with a French club would come after joining Paris Saint-Germain in 1985/86.
In that very first season in the capital, he helped to power the 16-year-old club to its first league title. He entered as PSG’s first-choice goalie and retired seven seasons later in the same role.
The level of play and prolonged spell at the club for a goalie wouldn’t be matched until Lama came along, nor would his winning of Ligue 1. In 1988/89, he also put up 23 clean sheets in 43 games, which is still good for fifth-best.
A very important figure in club history, Joël Bats gets to rank among the greatest Paris Saint-Germain goalkeepers of all time in this list.
Keylor Navas (2019-2024)
Having laid down the gauntlet at Real Madrid as, arguably, one of the best goalkeepers the club has ever seen, Keylor Navas rode his hot streak to Paris Saint-Germain and simply carried on performing to an absurdly high level.
While his final season at the club was split with Donnarumma, from his arrival, the Costa Rican proved worthy of playing in such a big-money team. Over 114 games, he allowed only 94 goals while keeping 52 clean sheets.
Despite being well into his 30s, Navas’ cat-like reflexes and ability to claw away even the best-placed shots soaring to the corners of his goal kept him among the top goalies in the world.
In the end, his efforts helped the club to win three more Ligue 1 titles and seven more cups, landing Navas among the best PSG goalies of all time.
