West Ham insider ExWHUemployee claimed last night that reports suggesting the Hammers have bid £7 million for Cardiff City’s Neil Etheridge are wide of the mark, and in fact, the offer was closer to £3.5 million – 4 million.
Football Insider claimed two days ago that West Ham submitted a £7 million bid for the 29-year-old goalkeeper.
Lukasz Fabianski is out injured yet again, and Roberto and David Martin cannot be relied upon to serve as the Pole’s deputies.
West Ham have moved to address that issue, however, by signing Darren Randolph from Middlesbrough, as confirmed via the club’s official Twitter account:
We are pleased to confirm the return of Republic of Ireland international goalkeeper Darren Randolph to the Club. pic.twitter.com/gxp3lJfPM5
— West Ham United (@WestHam) January 15, 2020
So talk of a potential move for Etheridge now seems redundant.
Even so, ExWHUemployee claimed that the Hammers offer for the 65-capped Philippines international was nowhere near the reported £7 million, however, when speaking on the West Ham Way podcast last night (Tuesday, January 14th):
“They put in a bid for Neil Etheridge. The rumours were that we put in a £7 million bid for him. I don’t think it was anything like that at all. It was roughly £3.5 million, £4 million.”
Etheridge deal now surely off the table
With Randolph now having returned to West Ham, it is highly unlikely that the board will sanction the signing of another goalkeeper.
Stranger things have happened, however.
Roberto and Martin are not at the required standard for the Premier League. So perhaps the Hammers could do with one more experienced stopper to serve as the club’s number three goalkeeper.
The problem with that, however, is that Etheridge will surely not want to move to the London Stadium in order to be third choice.