So the Winter Transfer Window is wide open across Europe and Steve Davies take a look at some of the goalkeepers that could be on the move over the next month.
We begin in Amsterdam with the perennially in-demand Andre Onana. While Ajax’s talented young stopper will surely be on the move sooner rather than later, given Ajax’s progression in the Champions League, it appears unlikely that any move will come to pass in this transfer window. However, with Onana apparently staying put this does cast some doubt over the future of the club’s other two senior glovesmen – Benjamin van Leer, who is currently on loan at NAC Breda and Kostas Lamprou, whose deal at the Johan Cruijff ArenA expires in the summer.
Meanwhile, in Eindhoven the situation is even more congested. With Jeroen Zoet having seemingly been out the proverbial door on more than one occasion in recent years, PSV have covered their bases by drafting in not one but three possible long-term replacements in the form of Eloy Room, whose contract at the Philips Station expires in the summer, Hidde Jurjus, who is currently on a season-long loan at former club, De Graafschap and the man seemingly most likely to inherit the starting spot when Zoet finally makes his long-awaited move abroad – German keeper, Lars Unnerstall, who, upon arriving at the club on a free transfer from VVV over the summer, promptly found himself loaned back to the Venlo-based outfit for the duration of the current campaign
In Rotterdam, despite the departure of rival, Brad Jones this past summer, the form of Feyenoord’s talented young keeper, Justin Bijlow has left the experienced Kenneth Vermeer out in the cold and with the Dutch U21 international having recently penned a new deal keeping him at De Kuip until the summer of 2023, the writing appears to be on the wall for Vermeer, who, at the age of 32, is currently in his goalkeeping prime and unlikely to want to waste any more time of what was once a promising career playing second fiddle to a much younger man.
Elsewhere, in goalkeeping terms, there is one name in particular that has been making waves in the Dutch top flight this term – FC Emmen’s 18-year-old wonder-kid, Kjell Scherpen. While the Dutch U19 international is contracted at De Oude Meerdijk until the summer of 2020, it wouldn’t come as a great surprise if one of the ‘big three’ or indeed one of the division’s more established clubs, laid claim to his services in this transfer window before allowing Scherpen to see out the remainder of the campaign with his current employers.
Outside the Netherlands, it may be worth keeping tabs on the status of former FC Utrecht keeper, Michel Vorm, whose contract at Tottenham Hotspur is set to expire next summer while, at the age of 36, the under-utilised Maarten Stekelenburg may yet, despite having extended his current deal with Everton until mid-2020 this past summer, opt to look for first team football away from Goodison Park.
Finally, will Barcelona’s Jasper Cillessen remain the ‘world’s best back-up goalkeeper’ forever? Only time will tell.
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