Mads Hermansen was West Ham United’s number one goalkeeping target last summer, but the Premier League outfit certainly gave a lot of consideration to Zion Suzuki.
Graham Potter was delighted to land Hermansen in a £20 million deal from Leicester City. The former head coach wanted the Dane largely because of his intelligent distribution.
Suzuki’s status as one of Europe’s most promising ball-playing goalkeepers, though, ensured he would also feature heavily in West Ham United’s discussions.
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Hammers News can confirm that West Ham held talks with Parma to sign Suzuki before pressing ahead with Mads Hermansen.
Seven months later, while Hermansen has made a very impressive return to the starting XI following a lengthy spell among the substitutes, Suzuki’s own return could not have gone worse.
Zion Suzuki ‘nightmare’ as former West Ham United target suffers heavy Serie A loss
The America-born Japan international was back between the Parma goalposts on Friday night against Torino following three months out with a broken hand.
A pretty unfortunate injury for a goalkeeper to suffer, we’re sure you agree.
It took only three minutes for Torino striker Giovanni Simeone to ruin Suzuki’s comeback. A near-post effort which somehow slipped through the legs of the former Urawa Red Diamonds ace; the first in a 4-1 Granata victory.
“We always make choices based on meritocracy and what can help the team win. On the day of his injury [in Milan], Suzuki played ten minutes with a massive fracture in his hand,” a defensive Carlos Cuesta said at full-time. “He gave his life for the team.
“We know his level and we support him more than ever. He made some high-level interventions today as well.”
The Italian press were not quite as forgiving as Parma coach Cuesta, though.
“He returns to the starting lineup after 17 games, but his start is horrific,” Gazzetta dello Sport wrote, handing Suzuki a 4.5/10 rating in their iconic pink pages. “That ball slipping between his legs for Simeone’s goal… Disoriented.”
“The return to the post becomes a real nightmare,” Tuttomercatoweb add, pulling even fewer punches. “He makes a huge blunder with his first intervention, then concedes three more.”
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Mauro Pederzoli, Parma’s former sporting director, felt the 1999 UEFA Cup winners had landed a ‘world-class’ goalkeeper when Suzuki joined from Belgian outfit Sint Triuden. How he bounces back from the first real setback of his career on European soil – largely unblemished until now – could go a long way to deciding how well Pederzoli’s claims age.
Parma Today reported in October that Suzuki, who famously rejected Manchester United in 2024 in favour of more regular game time in Belgium, also rebuffed West Ham’s advances.
While Hermansen was always the first-choice, the globetrotting Suzuki is clearly in no rush to add the Premier League to his already-extensive list of destinations.
In the meantime, Hermansen has three clean sheets in five Premier League matches since ousting Alphonse Areola in February. Manchester City will obviously provide a major test of his recent revival, though, even if Erling Haaland heads to the London Stadium in awful form.
Haaland has only two non-penalty goals in his last 17 games.
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