I was very torn about whether or not we should have offered Fabianski a new contract. He has been a brilliant servant for the club ever since he signed but he’s also 40 years old now and has become second fiddle to Areola. I still believe Fabianski has many good games still under his belt, but maybe not in a West Ham shirt. Since he arrived I believe he has lived up to what we wanted and/or needed of him. I’m sure many fans didn’t believe in 2025 that we would still be playing him as much as we did this season. In his first year he won Hammer of the Year and since then he has been a solid goalkeeper whenever called upon. He has been a top professional from start to finish. I’m sure many goalkeepers that are the club’s number one but not playing in their European final may have sulked a bit but he always showed his full support for the club and Areola when in goal.
Balancing the Books: Goalkeeping Priorities
It has been spoken about a few times from West Ham fan groups that we may not have as much money as we thought to spend this summer due to coming 16/17th in the table. With this in mind, I don’t believe our goalkeeping scenario is where we must improve immediately so we could have kept Fabianski as our second which would have stopped us buying another goalkeeper and allowing us to use the money elsewhere. But on the other side, we could save money as we have many good young prospects in our academy that we could look into bringing up as our second goalkeeper behind Areola.
Seven Years of Stats and Stability
Fabianski has played 228 games for us since joining in 2018 and has rarely been injured for a long period of time. Since joining he has a save percentage in all competitions of 71% which is very high for a goalkeeper especially one that has to save many shots a game. He has also kept 92 clean sheets for us in the Premier League. He has always been one of our most prolific goalkeepers we have had and when playing he still makes some remarkable saves, a special mention goes to his performance away at Newcastle this season.
Evolving the Game with His Feet
In more recent years, he has also had to learn a whole new game with his feet which was never his style of play but has improved more every year. But with this I believe if he was better and calmer with the ball at his feet he could still be starting for us. Fabianski has been with us now for seven years and I truly believe he loves the club and would have stayed for another year if offered another contract, even if that meant he would only play in the cup games for us.
The Polish League and Future Moves
I can’t see him going to a better team especially not to be their number 1 and the only clubs that have been spoken about are teams in the Polish league. Now being from Poland, he may like that offer but still not many 40 year olds go to clubs to be their number 1. For me, I don’t disagree with anyone’s opinion as I can see both sides but I would have preferred we save our money and use it elsewhere and kept Fabianski as our second choice goalkeeper for one more year.
The Aaron Ramsdale Factor
The only goalkeeper we have been looking at getting is Southampton goalkeeper, Aaron Ramsdale. Now with him I’m not totally convinced, I put him in the same boat as Fabianski and Areola level wise but he will also cost a lot, so letting the Polishman leave on a free to get in Ramsdale, I just don’t see that being worthwhile. Do you see us buying a new goalkeeper or bringing up an academy goalkeeper?
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