European football has some of the best goalkeepers in the world.

Alisson Becker and Ederson are walking brick-walls in the Premier League, Jan Oblak and Marc-Andre ter Stegen are truly world-class in La Liga and Manuel Neuer is still a force to be reckoned with in Germany.

The truth is, we could go on and on listing the shot-stopping talent on the continent and that's exactly why the debate over the world's best goalkeeper is so hotly-contested.

Alisson hogged the limelight in 2019 by collecting the Premier League and Copa America Golden Gloves, but does that necessarily make him the number one goalkeeper in isolation?

Well, there's sadly no magical formula that gives us all the correct answer, but that doesn't stop us from trying and minutes per goal conceded is one of the most important statistics available.

Europe's best goalkeepers

At the end of the day, standing between the sticks is all about conceding the fewest goals possible and therefore the 'keepers who go unbeaten the longest tend to be some of the best.

And thanks to Football365 traipsing through the endless statistics on Transfermarkt, we've been able to discover Europe's top 20 goalkeepers by how long they go without conceding on average.

Note: This is only including shot-stoppers from the continent's top five leagues and candidates must have played in at least five matches to be eligible. Check out the full list down below:

=20. Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester) – 87 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 25

Clean sheets: 8

Clean sheet ratio: 32%

Goals conceded: 26

Goals conceded per match: 1.04

=20. Adrian (Liverpool) – 87 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 10

Clean sheets: 2

Clean sheet ratio: 20%

Goals conceded: 9

Goals conceded per match: 0.9

=18. Alban Lafont (Nantes) – 90 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 22

Clean sheets: 9

Clean sheet ratio: 40.9%

Goals conceded: 22

Goals conceded per match: 1

=18. Geronimo Rulli (Montpellier) – 90 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 20

Clean sheets: 6

Clean sheet ratio: 30%

Goals conceded: 20

Goals conceded per match: 1

16. Alfred Gomis (Dijon) – 93 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 17

Clean sheets: 6

Clean sheet ratio: 35.3%

Goals conceded: 16

Goals conceded per match: 0.94

15. Tomas Vaclik (Sevilla) – 94 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 22

Clean sheets: 9

Clean sheet ratio: 40.9%

Goals conceded: 21

Goals conceded per match: 0.95

=14. Thomas Strakosha (Lazio) – 95 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 21

Clean sheets: 6

Clean sheet ratio: 28.6%

Goals conceded: 20

Goals conceded per match: 0.95

=14. Anthony Lopes (Lyon) – 95 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 20

Clean sheets: 5

Clean sheet ratio: 25%

Goals conceded: 19

Goals conceded per match: 0.95

=12. Steve Mandanda (Marseille) – 96 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 21

Clean sheets: 10

Clean sheet ratio: 47.6%

Goals conceded: 19

Goals conceded per match: 0.9

=12. Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus) – 96 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 15

Clean sheets: 6

Clean sheet ratio: 40%

Goals conceded: 14

Goals conceded per match: 0.93

10. David Soria (Getafe) – 99 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 22

Clean sheets: 9

Clean sheet ratio: 40.9%

Goals conceded: 20

Goals conceded per match: 0.91

9. Edouard Mendy (Stade Rennais) – 101 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 18

Clean sheets: 6

Clean sheet ratio: 33.3%

Goals conceded: 16

Goals conceded per match: 0.89

8. Dean Henderson (Sheffield United) – 104 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 23

Clean sheets: 8

Clean sheet ratio: 34.8%

Goals conceded: 20

Goals conceded per match: 0.87

7. Samir Handanovic (Inter Milan) – 105 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 21

Clean sheets: 7

Clean sheet ratio: 33.3%

Goals conceded: 18

Goals conceded per match: 0.86

6. Unai Simon (Athletic Bilbao) – 122 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 19

Clean sheets: 9

Clean sheet ratio: 47.4%

Goals conceded: 14

Goals conceded per match: 0.74

5. Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid) – 130 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 22

Clean sheets: 10

Clean sheet ratio: 45.5%

Goals conceded: 15

Goals conceded per match: 0.68

4. Predrag Rajkovic (Stade Reims) – 132 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 22

Clean sheets: 10

Clean sheet ratio: 45.5%

Goals conceded: 15

Goals conceded per match: 0.68

3. Keylor Navas (PSG) – 139 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 17

Clean sheets: 10

Clean sheet ratio: 58.8%

Goals conceded: 11

Goals conceded per match: 0.65

2. Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid) – 171 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 19

Clean sheets: 11

Clean sheet ratio: 57.9

Goals conceded: 10

Goals conceded per match: 0.53

1. Alisson (Liverpool) – 244 minutes per goal conceded

Games: 17

Clean sheets: 11

Clean sheet ratio: 64.7%

Goals conceded: 6

Goals conceded per match: 0.35

GIVEMESPORT's Kobe Tong says

Alisson is the best goalkeeper in the world. Accept it.

Sure, a goalkeeper is often only as good as the defence in front of him, but Brazil's number one has achieved too much over the last 18 months to be considered anything less than the golden goose.

Plus, it's no coincidence that Liverpool's defensive record has dramatically improved since Alisson returned from injury to replace Adrian, embarking on a seven-game clean sheet streak recently.

That's not to say I think Courtois is the second best by de facto, though, but he deserves far more credit than he's receiving after finally finding his feet in record-breaking fashion at Real Madrid.

However, one of the biggest takeaways from this list should be the fact Henderson is in eighth place, despite playing for a newly-promoted team, and David de Gea is absolutely nowhere to be seen.

On current form, you have to say that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should instate Henderson as his number one next season because De Gea has been just as mistake-prone as his defence.

But even if the England prospect is pulling on the famous Manchester United jersey next season, he'll still be looking up to Alisson and Liverpool in more ways than one.