One of the major headaches Rafael Benitez has been facing this summer has been his inability to lure a proven goalkeeper to his ranks. The Spaniard has already made some decent signings in the form of Florian Lejeune, Jacob Murphy, Javi Manquilo and Christian Atsu but failed to chalk a deal in order to bring Willy Cabellero to St. James’ Park from Manchester City and lost the battle to sign him.
However, the Magpies are still in the hunt for a dependable man between the sticks and as per one of the recent reports by Sky Sports, West Ham United’s goalkeeper Adrian is believed to be on the wish-list of the former Napoli manager.
The Hammers have signed Manchester City’s Joe Hart on a season-long loan deal in order to uplift the quality of their goalkeeping and thus, it goes without saying that there would be an intense competition between Adrian and Hart.
Slaven Bilic exercised the option of extending Adrian’s contract by a further couple of years earlier this summer. However, in a scenario like where the Spanish born keeper might find it hard to accumulate a respectable game time under his belt, he is seemingly likely to vouch for an outlet.
Although moving to the ranks of the Toon would be a good move by Adrian, there exists a twist in the plot. The Irons have already sold Darren Randolph to Championship outfit Middlesbrough and thus, they would presumably be reluctant to strike Adrian off their books this summer.
The Chronicle Live had reported last month that West Ham would only let Adrian leave if the Geordies exchange Karl Darlow with them. Benitez is ready to offload Darlow and has informed Tim Krul that he has no future at the club, which really leaves the black and white crops in a pretty awkward scene.
In such a circumstance, the interest of Newcastle United to sign Adrian, who has made a stellar impact in the English top division after moving from Real Betis, makes perfect sense.
Adrian is unarguably one of the most underrated goalkeepers in the Premier League. However, during the 2016-17 season of the Premier League, he was inconsistent and sporadic which made Bilic drop him to the bench on many occasions.
In 16 appearances last term, the 30-year-old bagged 6 clean sheets but his inconsistency had forced Bilic to vouch for alternatives this time around. With Hart already in his ranks, Adrian might be allowed to leave for the ranks of Benitez, provided that Bilic finds an astute backup.
