Nick Pope celebrated his 30th birthday earlier this week. If he was an outfield player, Burnley’s England international may already be turning his mind to life after the Premier League.
A career in punditry perhaps. That UEFA A-licence isn’t going to earn itself.
Goalkeeper’s tend to stick around for a little longer however. And, at 30, Pope potentially has another decade left at the top level. He’s younger than David de Gea, Hugo Lloris, Kasper Schmeichel, Vicente Guaita, Fraser Forster and the man he could replace at West Ham United.
Fabianski also celebrated a birthday this week, some 24 hours before Pope let off his own party poppers. There were 37 candles on his cake.
And though Fabianski is expected to sign a new deal at the London Stadium, West Ham’s desire to bring in a younger, fresher option between the sticks makes sense. Pope, after all, is seven years Fabianski’s junior.
What’s more, The Times believe that a Burnley side staring down the barrel of relegation could accept bids of just £12 million. Assuming Pope sticks around at West Ham until he’s 37 or 38, that would work out at around £1.5 million a season.
Not bad for a goalkeeper labelled ‘sensational’ by Jurgen Klopp and ‘incredible’ by Gareth Southgate.
Bargain of the season?
In fact, it’s hard to imagine West Ham finding a goalkeeper that represents better ‘value for money’ than Burnley’s eight-time England international. Appropriately enough for a man with his surname, Pope is rather adept at pulling off miracle saves. David Moyes and co found that out the hard way as Burnley snatched a point at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
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Pope made five stops to keep West Ham at bay, including a superb reaction to keep out a Jarrod Bowen piledriver and a genuine ‘Save of the Season’ contender to claw Issa Diop’s bullet header off the line.
Hey, if you can’t beat them, buy them. And, for £12 million, West Ham could pull off the bargain of the summer. One of the best bargains of any summer.
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