I don’t think I can really put it better than how Fulham fan Chris Gilbertson did on Twitter earlier today.
“Squad needs harmony not a goalkeeper competition”. That’s basically the TL;DR version of this article right here, and I am really getting uncomfortable with the prospect of what could potentially happen.
According to a report from Sky Sports, Fulham are in discussion to bring in Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Alphonse Areola this summer on a season-long loan. The 27-year-old former Real Madrid stopper has found his path to the first team blocked in recent seasons and is clearly looking to get back in someone’s starting line-up.
I just don’t want it to be us. Nothing against him, I’m sure he’s a fine goalkeeper, but is he really what we should be looking for right now?
Should we be looking to sign a new goalkeeper this summer?
Yes
No
This goes back to what I was saying when we were linked with Mattia Perrin, our current number one Marek Rodak has earned the right to be our number one going forward after his displays towards the backend of last season, and bringing in someone like this is just going to disrupt things.
Now if we were bringing in someone who was far and away better than Rodak, similar to when we signed Edwin Van Der Sar when we had Maik Taylor, then that might be a little easier to swallow. I don’t know who the equivalent would be this time around, but let’s say for the sake of argument Marc-Andre Ter Stegen who wants to get away from what’s happening at Barcelona, then I’d have no problem with someone like him coming in.
But when you think of someone to take the club forward, Areola isn’t exactly one of the first names coming to mind, and that’s why I think we should stay with Rodak in net for the time being.