West Ham United have been handed a huge boost in their bid to bring Bartlomiej Dragowski to the London Stadium in the summer transfer window.
What’s the talk?
That’s according to a report by Italian media outlet TuttoMercatoWeb, who claim that, despite having been in continued talks with AFC Fiorentina regarding the extension of his current contract – which is set to expire in the summer of 2023 – the 24-year-old goalkeeper has now decided that he will seek a move away from the Serie A side at the end of the current campaign.
This will come as a huge boost to West Ham, who were heavily linked with a move for the Poland international in the January transfer window, especially when considering the fact that the shot-stopper’s asking price will now likely be much lower than the reported £10m fee Fiorentina were demanding last month.
Forget Areola
Despite the fact that Lukasz Fabianski has been reported to have agreed on a new one-year deal with West Ham, with the goalkeeper turning 37 years of age in April, the Hammers will undoubtedly be on the lookout for a long-term successor to the £900k-rated veteran this summer.
And, with it being appearing uncertain as to whether David Moyes will take up the club’s reported £11m option to make Alphonse Areola’s temporary stay at the London Stadium a permanent move this summer, Dragowski would very much look to be something of a perfect replacement for the France international as the Irons’ number two.
Indeed, while the £9.9m-rated ‘keeper has not featured a great deal for Fiorentina so far this season, the 24-year-old has nevertheless proven in previous campaigns that he is an extraordinarily talented option between the sticks.
Over his 31 Serie A appearances back in 2019/20, the £27k-per-week stopper kept eight clean sheets and saved two penalties, as well as making an average of 3.2 saves per game, with these metrics seeing the player, who ex-Poland shot-stopper Jan Tomaszewski claimed has “great potential”, earn a highly impressive seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.95 – ranking him as La Viola’s seventh-best player in the league that season.
As such, considering his age, likely transfer fee and wage demands in comparison to the £138k-per-week 28-year-old Areola, it would appear highly advisable for West Ham to make a move for Dragowski ahead of the Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper – as, not only would the Hammers be gaining a player with a much higher ceiling than the Frenchman, they would also save themselves millions of pounds in the process.
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