Should we offer him a new contract?

With Jussi Jaaskelainen’s new one-year deal in the summer coming to an end at the end of this season, It does make me think that we should start looking for someone more long term in the goalkeeping position, rather than give the ageing Finn a new contract.

There is little doubt that Jaaskelainen has been very good between the sticks for us since arriving as a free transfer in June 2012. Last season, he made more saves than any other keeper in the Premier League and was voted runner up Hammer of the Year. Barring a mid-season blip for a few games last season, I can’t really remember him making any costly mistakes, making him a very reliable player in our team. At the start of this campaign too he has arguably been even better, with four clean sheets in the opening eight games in no small part down to the giant Finn.

Particularly memorable games for me from Jaaskelainen in a West Ham shirt were the Spurs match at home last season, where despite losing, he made a string of world class saves to deny the likes of Gareth Bale, and this season at Southampton, where his heroics earnt us a valuable away point.

However we cannot get away from the fact that Jussi is 38 years old and surely cannot carry on for too much longer, and it seems to me that it was about time the club brought someone younger in that we know is capable of playing in goal at this level. Goalkeeper is a unique position and we desperately need someone who really knows what they are doing. After all we are not a club who are always going to prevent shots going in on goal.

Stephen Henderson was billed as our future number 1 when he came in from Portsmouth, but although I haven’t seen much of him myself, either playing for our under 21 team or out on loan at Ipswich Town, he doesn’t seem to have lived up to his potential in the eyes of the West Ham coaching staff from what I’ve heard. It would also explain the decision to bring in Spanish stopper Adrian Miguel in the summer, who seems to now be the next in line to Jaaskelainen. Whether Adrian is capable of becoming a quality Premier League goalkeeper remains to be seen, but his two performances in the Capital One Cup haven’t exactly filled me with confidence.

Personally, I think we missed out big time in the previous January window, when we should have tried to buy Birmingham City stopper Jack Butland, who seems destined to become a great ‘keeper. Instead we allowed Stoke City to snare him.

Rather than keep putting off the situation as I think the club is currently doing and continue to give Jaaskelainen another year, we should be out looking for someone we know can be our goalkeeper for a long period of time. Otherwise, when Jaaskelainen does retire or his levels decrease, we will not have anyone to take his place, other than a relative unknown like Adrian. There aren’t too many available ‘keepers out there that I can currently think of, although if we were feeling ambitious we could try and persuade Fraser Forster to depart Celtic for the Premier League. Our scouts should also be out scouring the lower leagues, where quality keepers are often found. However if we do not then I think we would probably have no option than to offer Jussi a new deal for next year. But this issue cannot continue to be kicked into the long grass as it currently is. What do you all think?