OPINION
One of the first West Ham conundrums Manuel Pellegrini must solve is the club’s goalkeeping issues that surfaced in the latest campaign, and the solution could already be at the club.
The former Manchester City manager was confirmed to be David Moyes’ successor of the club on Tuesday morning, via the Hammers’ official Twitter account, and there’s lot of problems for him to fix this summer ahead of the new season.
Your new West Ham United manager… #WelcomePellegrini pic.twitter.com/UuPWfGCZbz
— West Ham United (@WestHam) May 22, 2018
One of these problems is the club’s goalkeeping situation as neither Joe Hart or Adrian covered themselves in glory on a regular basis in the last campaign.
In fact the pair contributed to the club conceding 68 goals in 38 league games and both should suffer the consequences this season.
While Hart isn’t set to be at the London Stadium for the next campaign, as he was only on loan for one season from Man City, the veteran goalkeeper will no doubt be punished by finding it difficult to get a new club.
Adrian, however, looks like staying around and while he has been impressive in the past, letting 31 goals go flying past him in 22 games last season, proved that the 31-year-old isn’t the right solution or a long-term fix.
Therefore it seems likely that Pellegrini will dive into the transfer market to sign a new goalkeeper, however he shouldn’t be so quick to, as the Hammers have a hidden gem of keeper in the form of Nathan Trott.
The 19-year-old, who is contracted to the club until 2020 according to their official site, has never been afforded a first-team opportunity despite his glowing reputation proceeding him.
Trott has featured for England’s U-20s and is regarded as having a lot of potential, as the shot-stopper is clearly among his country’s best for his age.
The teenage gem has regularly featured for the Hammers’ set-up, playing 21 times for the U-23s in the Premier League 2 in the latest campaign, and it shouldn’t be assumed that he might not be ready.
The promising talent tweeted, via his personal Twitter account, shortly after the experienced manager was confirmed as the Hammers’ new boss with a simply tweet using a fingers crossed emoiji, implying that he perhaps believes he’s ready for his side’s first-team.
At the very least the young promising goalkeeper is hopeful for a chance and why shouldn’t Pellegrini hand him one?
The veteran manager has all of pre-season to test the goalkeeper out and he will be pleasantly surprise with what he sees, and it would be a quicker solution to his goalkeeping conundrum if the solution was already at the club.
Therefore even though Trott has never previously featured for West Ham’s senior team, unleashing the unseen gem, who is hoping for a chance based on his social media post, would swiftly see Pellegrini’s goalkeeping issues at the club be no more.
