WEST BROM TO OFFER ROBINSON ESCAPE FROM SPURS HELL
Sunday, July 6th, 2008 by Stuart Stratford
West Bromwich Albion have marked the Premier League’s cards that they do not intend to be patsy’s and suffer relegation on their return to the top-flight. The Midlanders have made an inquiry for former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson whose future at White Hart Lane has been doomed since the appointment of Juande Ramos, exacerbated by the signing of Huerleho Gomes from PSV Eindhoven last month.
Robinson had been expected to join Aston Villa as Martin O’Neill sought to replace the Liverpool ‘keeper Scott Carson after his loan spell at the club finished. The two clubs have locked horns over Gareth Barry and Carson may yet be involved as a makeweight in the deal although Villa are demanding that their valuation of £18m for the England midfielder be met in cash. Carson’s future at Anfield is under pressure already with rumours of Liverpool scouring the globe for back-up for Spanish Number Two, Pepe Reina, with Brazilian Diego Cavalieri expected to join next week for £3m.
Gordon Banks in this morning’s Sun newspaper laments the current state of English goalkeeping, noting that
If foreign managers keep buying foreign keepers, we’ll never have a top-quality England No. 1
Robinson was supposed to be such a player. At Leeds, he was constantly linked with the top sides yet when his availability became known, none moved for him and he ended up at Tottenham. His confidence consistently fell, reaching its nadir in Croatia when an own-goal contributed to England’s failure to qualify for Euro2008. Carson was given his chance in the return match at Wembley but suffered when a mistake gifted the Croats an early lead that they ultimately held onto.
It is however harsh to write-off the future of English goalkeeping at this moment in time. Robinson may recover at a new club whilst Carson, Ben Foster of Manchester United and Joe Hart of Manchester City head a promising generation. As with most other positions in the England team, there is a paucity of world class talent currently but enough coming through to suggest that its demise may yet be prematurely called.
Tags: Football, Goalkeepers, premier league, Soccer, Transfer Gossip
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