Zatara
Player Valuation: £100m
I was reading recently posts from i think @catcherintherye and @blueloon about the number of keepers in the youth teams. I think after we just signed this new youth keeper we now have 10 keepers for the u21s and u18s (?).
Its been a long running joke that we sign a new youth keeper every year at least and they never come through. I understand its a specialist position and keepers dont reach their peak till they hit 30ish but surely there is a way to judge their potential rather than having so many on our books? I'd expect that the goalkeeping coaches would prefer to work with perhaps 4 keepers perhaps across both age
groups...maybe 5 or 6 at a maximum so they have optimal 1-1 coaching. 10 seems like a ridiculous scattergun approach to me....
It seems like we have a huge gap between Robles and these other keepers so we will need to sign a new keeper in the summer. I think the options are these:
A-- Experienced backup for Robles
B-- Competition for Robles
C-- Clear first choice big money signing
D--Young keeper to develop
For A+B we've been linked with David Marshall who will be 31 in March and supposedly rated at £10mi l by Cardiff. We've also seen links to Begovic for £8mil who looked fantastic for Portsmouth at Stoke and David Ospina, these two are 28 and 27 years old respectively. Looking at Robles though in his appearances so far, are any of them currently FAR superior to him and are they worth signing? The only one i'd think would be a clear upgrade would be Begovic BUT he actually CHOSE to be Chelseas number 2 so wanting to move for first team football doesnt make sense really as he could have gone elsewhere rather than Chelseas bench.
For "C" the "big money" signing, the standout is Jack Butland. Of course Stoke are backed by the Coates family and no need to sell. However, if he wants to take the English national jersey then i think he would push for a move to play with Jags, Baines,Stones, Barkley and perhaps soon Galloway. Whoever the national team manager is, Butland would get far more exposure playing with our English internationals than at Stoke where he's the only one. Makes far more sense for him to be playing with English international defenders week in week out than not.
Other than Butland, im not sure who would be a "big money" type signing to go straight in as first choice but there would be an element of risk in signing a foreign keeper who may not adapt to the league.
As a young keeper, theres Pickford at Sunderland, Bentley at Southend and Woodman at Newcastle. None of these would be clear first choice from day 1 but are very highly rated and could compete with Robles and potentially be the "next Butland".
Weve also been linked with Grobelaar-esque Mandanda and also some (including myself) have mentioned Karius and Horn (with a £6mil release clause)....
I noted John Burridge (former keeper who played till he was in his 40s i think?) Comments yesterday on Courtois, Forster, Mignolet and others saying they were all very tall but useless and that ar 6ft rather than 6ft6+ Kasper Schmeical was far superior. Of course thats just one opinion but its been mentioned here that there is a massive gulf of the very best keepers and the rest....you just have to look at Peter Cech and De Gea to see how many points they win for their clubs.
It will be interesting to see what happens with our youth keepers as it seems a bit ridiculous to have so many and also who we bring in during the summer.
If Martinez is following the Barca approach then we need someone who can act as a "sweeper keeper" and start our play from the back. Other than Southall and Martyn (for a limited time) weve not had a decent keeper for a long time, i had high hopes for Simonsen and Wright but total disasters....
Its been a long running joke that we sign a new youth keeper every year at least and they never come through. I understand its a specialist position and keepers dont reach their peak till they hit 30ish but surely there is a way to judge their potential rather than having so many on our books? I'd expect that the goalkeeping coaches would prefer to work with perhaps 4 keepers perhaps across both age
groups...maybe 5 or 6 at a maximum so they have optimal 1-1 coaching. 10 seems like a ridiculous scattergun approach to me....
It seems like we have a huge gap between Robles and these other keepers so we will need to sign a new keeper in the summer. I think the options are these:
A-- Experienced backup for Robles
B-- Competition for Robles
C-- Clear first choice big money signing
D--Young keeper to develop
For A+B we've been linked with David Marshall who will be 31 in March and supposedly rated at £10mi l by Cardiff. We've also seen links to Begovic for £8mil who looked fantastic for Portsmouth at Stoke and David Ospina, these two are 28 and 27 years old respectively. Looking at Robles though in his appearances so far, are any of them currently FAR superior to him and are they worth signing? The only one i'd think would be a clear upgrade would be Begovic BUT he actually CHOSE to be Chelseas number 2 so wanting to move for first team football doesnt make sense really as he could have gone elsewhere rather than Chelseas bench.
For "C" the "big money" signing, the standout is Jack Butland. Of course Stoke are backed by the Coates family and no need to sell. However, if he wants to take the English national jersey then i think he would push for a move to play with Jags, Baines,Stones, Barkley and perhaps soon Galloway. Whoever the national team manager is, Butland would get far more exposure playing with our English internationals than at Stoke where he's the only one. Makes far more sense for him to be playing with English international defenders week in week out than not.
Other than Butland, im not sure who would be a "big money" type signing to go straight in as first choice but there would be an element of risk in signing a foreign keeper who may not adapt to the league.
As a young keeper, theres Pickford at Sunderland, Bentley at Southend and Woodman at Newcastle. None of these would be clear first choice from day 1 but are very highly rated and could compete with Robles and potentially be the "next Butland".
Weve also been linked with Grobelaar-esque Mandanda and also some (including myself) have mentioned Karius and Horn (with a £6mil release clause)....
I noted John Burridge (former keeper who played till he was in his 40s i think?) Comments yesterday on Courtois, Forster, Mignolet and others saying they were all very tall but useless and that ar 6ft rather than 6ft6+ Kasper Schmeical was far superior. Of course thats just one opinion but its been mentioned here that there is a massive gulf of the very best keepers and the rest....you just have to look at Peter Cech and De Gea to see how many points they win for their clubs.
It will be interesting to see what happens with our youth keepers as it seems a bit ridiculous to have so many and also who we bring in during the summer.
If Martinez is following the Barca approach then we need someone who can act as a "sweeper keeper" and start our play from the back. Other than Southall and Martyn (for a limited time) weve not had a decent keeper for a long time, i had high hopes for Simonsen and Wright but total disasters....
