This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
West Ham United had the chance to sign Neil Etheridge in the summer, but turned it down to stick with Roberto, as reported by The Athletic.
What’s the word?
With Adrian having left London Stadium as a free agent, eventually heading to Liverpool, West Ham needed to find a new understudy for last season’s Hammer of the Year Lukasz Fabianski.
They eventually settled on Roberto and David Martin, who both joined the club on free transfers, though The Athletic claim the Hammers had the option to go for Cardiff City goalkeeper Etheridge.
However, they turned the move down, feeling satisfied that Roberto was the best option for the club.
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Ludicrous decision making
There was only one person to make more Premier League saves than Etheridge last season, and that man was Fabianski.
To turn that down for someone who didn’t make a single league appearance for Espanyol last season indicates that the Hammers’ priority in this deal was, perhaps, not the quality of the stopper.
The price has been paid for this during Fabianski’s absence, with Roberto making a whole host of mistakes, including his shocking positioning for Newcastle United’s second and a calamitous attempt at a punch for Burnley’s third against West Ham more recently.
Darren Bent even suggested he should be dropped, while speaking on Football Insider: “Maybe they should utilise their third-choice keeper just to give him confidence as at the minute Roberto Jimenez is costing them games.”
Meanwhile, Etheridge has not made any errors that have led to a goal this season, averaging 2.7 saves per game.
It is, of course, impossible to map out how this period would have gone with someone else in goal, but it can be safely suggested that Roberto has at least partly been at fault for the demise and that Etheridge likely will have done a far better job between the sticks.
The Hammers have been made to rue this decision.