OPINION
West Ham will regret not convincing Fulham goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli to join them when they had a chance to as the Cottagers are now reportedly planning to secure his future.
According to The Sun on Thursday Fulham are planning to hand the 26-year-old shot-stopper a new contract in order to end any hope the Hammers, Crystal Palace or Chelsea have of signing him anytime soon.
It was previously reported by the Daily Mail that Bettinelli had turned down an opportunity to join Manuel Pellegrini’s side in the summer and the Hammers will regret failing to convince the 6ft 4in tall player (Source: Transfermarkt) to join them when they had the chance to.
The 26-year-old rejected the Hammers and Palace as he was confident that the Cottagers would give him regular Premier League football.
Fulham actually went on to sign two new goalkeepers in the summer window, Fabri and Sergio Rico, so there was an opening to convince Bettinelli to jump ship.
However the 26-year-old has featured in his side’s last two Premier League games and with the Cottagers moving to offer him a new deal than it’s likely that he will commit himself to staying put at Craven Cottage.
Bettinelli, who was recently called up to train with Gareth Southgate’s England squad, looks set to have all the tools to develop into a keeper worthy of playing in the Premier League for the foreseeable future.
When you consider that he is 26-years-old and still improving as a shot-stopper by picking up valuable experience than the Hammers could have solved their problem between the sticks for many seasons to come.
The Hammers opted to sign Lukasz Fabianski, 33, in the summer from Swansea City and while he has done an admirable job at the club so far despite his side shipping goals, his age doesn’t imply that he is a long term solution.
Also Pellegrini’s second-choice shot-stopper is Adrian, 31, who isn’t just the wrong side of 30 but has also failed to impress in his recent campaigns.
This all means that the Hammers will end up regretting not signing Bettinelli when they had chance to convince him to jump ship as the Cottagers look set to make a wise decision regarding the highly-rated shot-stopper by getting him to commit his future.
