With the news that West Ham have completed the signing of first-choice Real Betis keeper Adrian, Upton Park is faced with some serious competition for who will be between the sticks come the start of the 2013/2014 season.
Over the past few seasons, West Ham have operated predominately with one strong first choice keeper – and a few substitutes available who I struggle to remember, as they never see the light of day (we didn’t even have a substitute keeper on the bench when Green was sent off against Blackpool, with midfielder Henri Lansbury having to take a turn in goal.)
Jussi Jaaselainen fits into this category, having played in every minute of our 2012/2013 season (and having played impeccably well- particularly in the home match against Tottenham where he was nothing short of outstanding.) Opta recently stated that he had made more saves than any other keeper- not just in the Barclay’s Premier League but in the entirety of top 5 European leagues. This is an incredible statistic for Jussi; not such a great statistic, however, for our back four, who may want to consider marking opposition strikers a little more closely next season.
Considering the above, the acquisition of another keeper of an arguably equal skill level to Jussi is a surprise. Adrian has also had a very successful season for former club Real Betis (including having kept a clean sheet against Real Madrid, something normally only achieved by Germans.) In fact he kept 11 clean sheets in the 2012-2013 season and played a major contributing factor in Betis qualifying for the Europa League for this upcoming season.
Jussi’s age is certainly a factor in the decision to bring in a second keeper – at 31 he is 5 years senior to Adrian’s 26, and at that age would not be considered as part of the club’s long term plans, regardless of how well he is currently playing. Adrian certainly has youth on his side, but with it comes inexperience. He has only played one full season of top flight football after coming through the Real Betis youth ranks.
There is also the rumour floating around that the reason Jussi left Bolton was that he was struggling to dive to a particular side in training, something which has been remarked upon on West Ham forums. I won’t mention which side it is, as I made the mistake of telling my friend who sits next to me and now I can feel him go tense every time someone sends a shot to that side. I think I ruined Jussi for him.
What the signing of Adrian most strongly suggests is that rather than immediately putting Jussi out to pasture, we will instead be employing a strong level of competition for the starting goalkeeper position. We currently have too many other positions in the squad where we only have one competent person for the job. There often doesn’t seem to enough actual competition for a starting role- so it’s refreshing to see that Big Sam will have a position that two fit, talented and qualified players will be pushing for. This can only be good news for West Ham.
Considering he gave up Europa League football in order to play for us, Adrian will be prepared to put up a good fight to start.
There won’t be any awkwardness over who actually gets the coveted number 1 shirt, as Jussi prefers playing in number 22 for both club and country. For everything else- let the goalkeeping games begin.
Emily Pulham is on twitter @makingthemarrow
Jussi, 31?! He’s 38 mate
Sound piece of future proofing. And one position that has fewer top exponents in the top flight than in some past seasons.
Jussi was born in April 1975 which makes him 38. If he was 31 we could look forward to a few more seasons yet with him between the sticks! He’s not & that’s why this was a good piece of business.
I like the way we are going about our buissness at the moment two in so far with Carroll hopefully signing next week.i think a option would be to add the loan signing of lukaku with option to buy or a straight 8 or 9 for bony . I would like us to buy scot Sinclair on the cheap and add some steal in sane
Haha it reading this half asleep, did make me wonder if a 5 year gap was pointless lol
Closer to 15.
Thank you for your service, now go down on your knees and let Adrian take over in between the sticks.
We need 3 new strikers I think hooper would be great winger megeady or Jamie Forrest can’t let Diamie go
I can’t help feeling slightly pessimistic over the AC situation. I don’t think that he’ll be good for WHU in the long term. It’s a massive wage for us to pay any player. Is he worth fifteen million? There must be better goal scorers for less money out there whom we can tempt.
Oh dear, that’s the last time I fact-check on Wikipedia!! Thanks for the corrections!
Yes Emily! Never use Wiki for facts. Jussi was class last season but time will catch up on him. Bet he wishes he was 31 though! Hope the AC fiasco ends this week. Want him to stay, but the more it drags makes me think he’s waiting for other offers. Lets hope not, and we back it up with further quality, and yes please let O’Neill go. Tried his best, but not Prem quality!
he certainly played like a 31 year old last season, but a good signing in Adrian nonetheless ideal replacement for next season
think we should abandon the AC deal, too costly, too injury prone, and also too big for the club in a sense of personal ego, we’d be much better spending the money on 3 or 4 other players…don’t do it big sam!! not another keiron dyer situation please
Jussi is 38 so only has limited playing time…
Where did you get 31 from?