While Mads Hermansen appears the most likely goalkeeping addition at West Ham United right now, the Premier League outfit do seem to have a few alternatives remaining.
Caoimhin Kelleher joined Brentford, Djordje Petrovic left Chelsea for Bournemouth, Aaron Ramsdale is in talks with Newcastle, and Parma have no interest in selling Zion Suzuki.
So, like with West Ham United’s much-reduced centre-forward options, Graham Potter and Kyle Macaulay head into the final few weeks of the summer window needing to cast their net a little wider, moving down their list of transfer targets as many leading candidates slip away.
Carlton Cole has a point when he suggests that West Ham’s Callum Wilson pursuit is borne from desperation.
Leicester’s Mads Hermansen emerged as the leading target for the goalkeeping department, meanwhile, after the London Stadium outfit hit the buffers with Kelleher, Petrovic, Suzuki and co.
That is not to say the Dane does not represent potentially excellent value for money at a reported £25 million. Hermansen was outstanding when Leicester beat West Ham in December, for instance. But, as deadline day approaches, genuine alternatives appear few and far between.
Though a new name has emerged, via the Netherlands, in the shape of Robin Roefs.
West Ham United enter Robin Roefs race but PSG pose a problem
Dutch publication Algemeen Dagblad claim that West Ham are suddenly showing ‘serious interest’ in the NEC Nijmegen number one.
Robin Roefs, an NEC academy graduate, established himself as the club’s first-choice during what was a superb breakout campaign. The 22-year-old started every single match as the Netherlands reached the semi-finals of this summer’s Under-21 European Championships as well, beaten by eventual winners England in the last-four.
Algemeen Dagblad report that Ajax were keen before signing Joeri Heerkens from Sparta Prague instead. Napoli are also firm admirers, though the Serie A champions have now completed a deal for Torino giant Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.
This, it is alleged, leaves West Ham and LOSC Lille as Roefs’ most likely destinations.
Though with West Ham prioritising Hermansen, the smart money is on Roefs plying his trade in France’s Ligue 1 next season. Lille are, after all, expected to sell Lucas Chevalier to Paris Saint-Germain for around £35 million.
Roefs, valued at £8.5 million, would be Chevalier’s replacement.
“Robin is a very good goalkeeper. He’s a very good goalkeeper,” Dutch Under-21 teammate Jorrel Hato said a few weeks back; the Ajax wonderkid on the verge of joining Chelsea in a £35 million deal of his own.
“What he does with his future is entirely up to him. I’m not going to tell him what to do.”
West Ham prioritising a goalkeeper with Mads Hermansen first-choice
The report claims that NEC are yet to receive a single offer. That could change in the coming days though. Especially when Chevalier’s hotly-anticipated switch to the newly-crowned European Champions is finalised.
“It was a bit of a trial and error process at first,” NEC coach Rogier Meier told RN7 at the end of Roefs’ coming-of-age campaign. “I think he’s always played at a good level in every match, but he made a few mistakes that cost us points [earlier in the season].
“After the winter, the small dips have mostly turned into peaks, because he’s saved a number of shots and points.
“I definitely think he can reach the top of the Dutch league. In fact, if I were the top of the Dutch league, I’d take a good look at him.”
A spokesman for the London Stadium top brass have informed Hammers News that West Ham will step up their pursuit of a goalkeeper this week.
“We are working hard on a new goalkeeper this week,” the source said. “We want to get that sorted as a priority next and we are very short in that position.”
There is potentially a chance that both Hermansen and Roefs arrive, the Dutchman joining as an affordable back-up.
That would likely mean Alphonse Areola has to leave first, however. And despite links with Espanyol earlier in the window, speculation over Areola’s future has been relatively few and far between of late.
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