West Ham United insider @ExWHUemployee has been sharing his thoughts on Hammers goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski and his future at the east London club.
This comes after Ex co-hosted a recent edition of The West Ham Way Podcast where he spoke about a variety of subjects surrounding David Moyes’ side.
Having signed Alphonse Areola during the recent summer transfer window, Fabianski’s future was a topic of conversation. Ex had this to say about the Pole and his future at the club.
He said: “I just don’t think Fabianski has been the same since he had that serious injury.
“He’s not been horrendous, he’s been a steady ‘keeper, but I just don’t believe he’s hit the standards that he created when he was Hammer of the Year, and obviously, he’s 35, 36 – so those standards are only going to decline anyway now because of age.
“So, I think it probably is the right time to start looking to move him on at the end of the year.
“If he’s happy to take another one-year contract as a backup to Areola, I may offer him it, but I think for [the] first team, I think it’s the only position each week now that I keep thinking that he can do a bit better there, so it’s good to have competition now.”
TIF Thoughts on Ex’s comments on Fabianski and his future…
Given how Fabianski, who is currently valued at £1.35 million according to Transfermarkt, has managed to already concede five goals in three Premier League games so far this season, it’s easy to see why Ex thinks the 36-year-old’s time as West Ham’s first-choice goalkeeper could be coming to an end in the near future.
Indeed, he has only kept two clean sheets in the league since March, so you could argue that neither his current form nor time is on his side in terms of reaching peak performance for the Hammers again.
Do you think Areola should be West Ham's first choice goalkeeper next season?
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Moving forward, with Fabianski’s current contract set to expire next summer, the club will have to decide whether or not they want him to continue at the club beyond then and whether he will be their first-choice shot-stopper or not.
In our view, given how Fabianski has had his fair share of injury issues over recent years and the fact that Areola was named as Fulham’s 2020/21 Player of the Season after his first campaign in the Premier League, this says to us that the Frenchman could be the right candidate to replace Fabianski should he leave the club next summer.
Alternatively, he could take a backseat if he is no longer seen as a capable first-choice option at that point, particularly if West Ham take up their option to make Areola’s transfer permanent in the summer of 2022.