“I’m just not 100 per cent” – Fulham fan pundit reacts as transfer agreement for 19-cap international edges closer | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk‘ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Fulham are closing in on adding a new goalkeeper to their ranks ahead of their return to the Premier League for the 2022-23 season.

La Reppublica, via Serie B News, reported last week that Lazio stopper Thomas Strakosha was closing in on a switch to Craven Cottage with his contract at the Serie A club set to expire this summer.

The latest update on the deal, per Tuttomercatoweb, is that the Albanian international’s signing-on fee demands are currently too high for Fulham to accept, although negotiations will continue to come to a compromise.

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It looks like the 27-year-old will come to an agreement in the end to join Marco Silva’s side, but FLW’s Fulham fan pundit Matt Baldwin is not convinced that Strakosha is the answer and would prefer other targets to be explored.

“My knowledge of him isn’t exactly the greatest – all I’ve really got to go off is highlights and things from Twitter, but just from what I’ve seen of him, even though he is a free transfer which would help with things like Financial Fair Play and balance sheets and leaving money for the rest of the transfer window, I’m just not 100 per cent,” Matt said.

“I think there are other goalkeepers we could have out there that I would be more willing to spend the money on.

“We’ve been linked with Alphonse Areola for instance, I’ve seen a fee mentioned for around £12 million, I think knowing what we have with Areola because of what he brought for us last time around in the Premier League, I would much rather go out and get him than bring in someone who is some extent untested.

“If we do get him, I wouldn’t be thrilled, I wouldn’t be too disappointed either, but I think given the situation we’re in I just think there should be even better players that we should be looking at instead of him.”

The Verdict

Fulham had been linked with a plethora of goalkeepers even before their promotion was confirmed – Nick Pope, Dean Henderson and Alphonse Areola to name a few.

They would all cost a lot of money in terms of transfer fee and wages though, so Strakosha with all his international and Serie A experience would represent a bargain.

He would probably represent an upgrade on both Marek Rodak and Paulo Gazzaniga, although you cannot be certain of that until he’s seen in a Fulham shirt.

Providing that the signing-on fee issue can be sorted, it does look like Strakosha will be the club’s new number one, and he’s certainly going to be an intriguing addition to the squad.