WITH his first season in the Premier League making an impression, Azkals and Cardiff City goalkeeper Neil Etheridge is now surrounded with speculations about his future with the club after it was relegated.
Etheridge has two years left in his contract, but reports say Cardiff may let go of their number one player at the right price.
No doubt, Etheridge is happy with Cardiff under Neil Warnock who gave the goalkeeper his full trust for the entire season.
“I’m very happy at Cardiff. The time I’ve spent there has been amazing,” Etheridge, who is in the Philippines for a vacation, told CNN Philippines in an interview yesterday.
Etheridge himself, though, admitted that the summer transfer window “is going to be interesting.”
“There’s a lot of speculation going on where I’m gonna go next season, but at this moment in time, I’m looking forward to my vacation and my holiday, and just let it play out,” Etheridge told CNN Philippines.
“My concrete plan is going back to Cardiff at pre-season. If that changes then it does; if it doesn’t, then I’m extremely happy at the club.”
But what if it does change?
The British site Football Insider reported last May 18 that Cardiff has valued Etheridge at not less than £10 million.
“The Philippines international still has two years to run on his current deal and a Cardiff source has told Football Insider the club will only sell if their valuation of £10 million plus is met by interested parties.”
One of those interested parties is West Ham United, which placed tenth in the Premier League last season.
“Manuel Pellegrini is keen to bring in competition for his current number one between the sticks, Lukasz Fabianski, and views the Philippines star as an ideal candidate for the role,” Fox Sports said in a May 20 report.
West Ham’s Fabianski logged the most number of saves last season with 148. Guess who had the second best number of saves with 141? Etheridge.
Interestingly, West Ham acquired the Polish goalkeeper Fabianski for £7 million last June 2018. Would west Ham add at least £3 million more for Etheridge?
At least for his current club that awarded him 2019 Player of the Year, Etheridge is worth every penny. His Premier League record speaks for itself.
In August 2018, Etheridge was nominated as Premier League Player of the Month. Recently, he made it to the Team of the Week, following a huge performance against giants Manchester United, which Cardiff beat 2-0 in their last match of the season. Neil made 10 saves in that game.
In all, Etheridge logged 10 clean sheets last season, more than what United’s David De Gea could muster.
This is no mean feat for the first Filipino and first Southeast Asian to play in the Premier League, something Etheridge acknowledged in the CNN Philippines interview.