Lukasz Fabianski is in the twilight of his career, and West Ham could be in for the perfect replacement for their star goalkeeper.
Since signing for £7 million West Ham in 2018, Lukasz Fabianski has been a mainstay in the starting eleven. The team has been reliant on the goalkeeper on many occasions since he joined from Swansea City following their relegation. Most recently against Fulham when he saved a last-minute penalty.
At 36-years-old, Fabianski is no spring chicken and has already started to see his powers decline. Last season the polish shot-stopper picked up a bad injury last season and during his absence, the club fell down the Premier League table. Fabianski’s replacement, Roberto, showed exactly why the club needs to have a quality goalkeeper between the sticks.
Despite being the most expensive goalkeeper in West Ham’s history, Fabianski may need to be replaced soon. The age and contract situation of Fabianski could prompt the club to start their search for a replacement. The Polish keeper’s current contract is due to expire at the end of the season as well as a back-up David Martin.
If these two contracts were left to expire it would leave Darren Randolph as the only keeper at the club. In this case, a new keeper must be signed, and David Sullivan could be tempted to return to West Ham’s unofficial feeder club, SK Slavia Prague.
Slavia’s goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar has down a brilliant job in the capital city of the Czech Republic since joining from FC Slovan Liberec in 2018. Kolar has kept a massive 50 clean sheets in 85 League games for Slavia. In total the Czech has kept 66 clean sheets in 119 appearances, averaging a clean sheet more regularly than every other game.
Of course, it is a lot easier for keepers to pump up their stats when they play for one of the best sides in their league. But Kolar is a goalkeeper that has proved he is ready as and when he is called upon. Standing at 1.93 metres, the Czech is taller than Fabianski and is an imposing figure between the sticks.
David Sullivan has proven to be a fan of signing players from the Czech Republic. Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal arrived from Slavia and have both proved to be bargains so far. Kolar is valued at £5 million on transfermarkt, and if the Hammers can snap him up for a similar price, he could prove to be another steal.
It wouldn’t take long for Kolar to settle in England’s capital, Soucek and Coufal would welcome another Czech with open arms. At 26-years-old, Kola is a decade younger than Fabianski and could be the Hammers for the foreseeable future.