The list of needs West Ham has from this transfer window is pretty solid as the summer rolls on. One position the Hammers are looking to fill is there need for a backup keeper. As the rumors continue to pile up and the opinions may vary a bit (even between friendships) where should they look?
For starters, Manuel Pellegrini is in the hunt for a backup keeper because of the soon to be announced departure of Adrian. As previously written by Adam, West Ham were heavily linked to Chelsea’s backup, Caballero, but he has just resigned with the Blues for another year, leaving the chase still open and Pellegrini will want to fill the void quickly.
There shouldn’t be a rush in finding one as West Ham have a solid, dare I say, a world-class keeper in the form of Fabianski, Hammer of the Year, 7 clean sheets, and could’ve been MOTM every week, but the need is still there. Pellegrini and Husillos’ signing of Fabianski last year was given lots of negative attention by fans and pundits alike but that has worked out masterfully for the Hammers.
As some of you might be hoping for another masterclass signing from Husillos, it’s not going to be easy to find keeper to sign on as the guaranteed back up. But do we even need one? As previously mentioned, there have been a few links, as always, for keepers to come to West Ham. Most notably, Nick Pope (Burnley), Neil Etheridge (Cardiff), Jonas Lossl (Huddersfield), and Marcus Bettinelli (Fulham).
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Out of those 4, Bettinelli and Pope were considered backups already looking elsewhere. Lossl could be picked up on a free, but after the battering, he took at Huddersfield all season I would urge them to look elsewhere as confidences might be low, and Etheridge, there is no way he should be a backup.
If you will, please allow me to throw on my armchair manager jacket for a minute and disagree with fellow writer, Adam Smith. Instead of wasting time and money looking for a backup keeper, why couldn’t West Ham look internally at the likes of newly resigned Nathan Trott. Yes, he is “young and untested” but to me, he is or can be the next big thing as a Premier League keeper.
Yes, Trott might not be ready just yet but how else will he, unless you throw him to the fire. To truly know his potential West Ham can’t look at this stats from the PL2 or send him out to a Championship club on loan. In my opinion, he needs to be brought up and given a shot in early cup matches and a few matches here and there against lesser sides all while letting Fabianski run the rest of the show.
West Ham will most likely only have Fabianski for a few more seasons so who better to groom Trott than him? Case in point, Rice and Noble or even David de Gea when he got moved to Man United in 2011. After all, we are The Academy of Football.
It is only the beginning of the summer break and the transfer window but Pellegrini likes to make moves fast and early. This move to promote from within, to me, is a no brainer. I have no doubt that any of the other potential transfers in would be a great backup, but when you have the recourses right in front of you, you should try it out. With that out-of-the-way, it can save time and money towards other positions that need to be filled and improved upon.