According to The Athletic, Sergio Romero could be on his way to Aston Villa this summer. This is a bitter blow to Everton, as we previously looked set to procure his signature before Villa hijacked the move. Carlo Ancelotti has his doubts over Jordan Pickford after a disappointing campaign, but it doesn’t look like we’ll bring in Romero to compete with him for a starting place.
How did we miss out on Romero?
At the end of August, the Mirror reported that Ancelotti was interested in Romero challenging Pickford for the proverbial No.1 jersey in 2020/21. The 33-year-old is in the last year of his deal and could find himself behind David De Gea and Dean Henderson in the pecking order next season, so he may have to leave Manchester United for more opportunities.
The Argentine international has made 61 appearances in all competitions for the Red Devils since his 2015-move from Sampdoria. He’s conceded only 27 goals (0.44 conceded per match) and kept an impressive 39 clean sheets (1 every 1.5 games on average), so he’d be a stark improvement on Pickford (1.4 goals conceded per match and a clean sheet every 3.5 games on average).
We tried to take advantage of Romero’s uncertain future at Old Trafford and had a good chance of bringing him to Goodison Park as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was willing to sell the Argentine international, but Villa now lead the race and could make him their second signing of the summer. We’ll have to turn our attention elsewhere.
Who will we move for now?
Pickford is still first-choice, Jonas Lossl is second-choice and Joao Virginia remains third in the pecking order, but our pursuit for another goalkeeper won’t end.
Watford’s Ben Foster, AC Milan’s Gianluigi Donnarumma and Torino’s Salvatore Sirigu are among those on our radar, so we could yet bring in a new face before the season begins. Letting Maarten Stekelenburg may have been a short-sighted decision if we’re not giving Lossl or Virginia a chance to prove their worth.
Summary
Romero would have been a fantastic signing, but Villa pushed hard to beat us to the punch. Our loss will be their gain.
In other news, Gylfi Sigurdsson be on his way to the MLS