Hammers considering 25-year-old Serie A star as Areola's replacement
- Mile Svilar has established himself as Roma's starting goalkeeper.
- 25-year-old Svilar has kept three clean sheets in Serie A.
By Rahul Das
Alphonse Areola was one of the best West Ham players towards the end of last season, and made a number of impressive saves to lead the Hammers to a ninth placed finish. Despite a good start to the previous campaign, West Ham were underwhelming in the second half of the season and could have finished outside the top ten without Areola's brilliant efforts. While the France international is great at making saves from inside the box, passing and distribution aren't his strengths which sometimes leads to misplaced passes as well.
Given that manager Julen Lopetegui implements his possession based tactics, Areola is required to constantly advance the ball further towards the defence while winning the ball possession. Due to Areola's struggles with quickly starting the build up play, the Hammers are highly likely to consider a young and athletic goalkeeper in the coming transfer windows. According to Gazzetta Dello Sport, West Ham are keen to sign 25-year-old Serie A star Mile Svilar, who has established himself as the first choice number one at Roma.
Hammers considering 25-year-old Serie A star as Areola's replacement
The Serbia international has started all seven league matches for Roma, and has kept three clean sheets, including a 0-0 draw with Juventus. Further, Svilar commands his box during set-pieces and his quick distribution helps Roma to create good goalscoring chances inside the final third. Therefore, the former Benfica goalkeeper is well aligned with Lopetegui's possession based approach and would thrive at West Ham in the Premier League.
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Moreover, Svilar can be a long-term goalkeeper for the Hammers and would be available for a transfer fee of around £25 million. Thus, compared to other transfer targets such as Dorde Petrovic and Mads Hermansen, the Serbia international is a good all-round keeper and would be interested in a move to the London Stadium in the January transfer window as well. However, Svilar is Roma's starting goalkeeper and it remains to be seen whether the Serie A side will listen to offers for him in January or at the end of the season.
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