Overhaul is long overdue | West Ham to call ‘time’ on career this summer. West Ham’s squad size and composition preoccupies many, with just a loan addition in the winter window just gone. Quite how the second part of the rebuild will take place in the summer with limited funds isn’t clear, ageing players reaching the end of their contracts all over the pitch.
Lucas Fabianski has to be one who will be released: He has been a brilliant, loyal servant at the club since 2018 and made over 200 appearances. But sentimentality and football don’t go together so this season must be his last, he will be 40 in April: West Ham’s most recent opponents Chelsea, by contrast, fielded goalkeepers of 21 and 27 years respectively as the trend is now away from ‘keepers who mature ‘later’ and who are fitter, faster and more able to play with their feet as well as their hands. Whether Alphonse Areola is deemed good enough to be Fabianski’s permanent successor is another matter. In the immediate future, West Ham will be back into the market in the summer for reinforcements. Noah Atubolu of FC Freiburg (main pic) was linked by Fabrizio Romano with the Hammers as recently as December in their search for a Fabianski successor. At 22 the young German is on the fringe of a breakthrough into his countries’ national side and is one to watch for West Ham in the summer, having been scouted as recently as December: At about ten million pounds his signature is ‘affordable’.
Closer to home but way from the limelight,West Ham’s young ‘keeper Krisztián Hegyi is quietly learning his trade and growing in stature, ready at some future stage for West Ham first team promotion. On-loan in the Hungarian top flight might not be the most glamorous setting for a football apprenticeship but Hegyi at 22 is already making an immediate impact; As a Hungarian national it was an obvious choice for his loan and the team is benefitting immensely from the ex-Scottish Premier League keeper’s talent. A first clean sheet of the season and back to back wins for Hegyi’s side shows great promise.
Younger still and with the u21’s, Finlay Herrick at 19 is another young keeper with bags of potential. Thanks to West Ham’s YouTube coverage of the u21 games it is easy to see youngsters’ development these days and Herrick has impressed. Whether one of these young Hammers makes it into the big time in due course is uncertain, but both now have a clear pathway if they are good enough thanks to Graham Potter’s patronage of the Academy.
Not soon enough for next season, however. A goalkeeper must be on the shopping list, whether or not Areola takes over the number one spot. Up and coming behind though, the future looks promising for either Herrick or Hegyi to make it through in years to cme.
