New deals offered to Krul and Maenpaa – and why the Albion need them to sign
Brighton and Hove Albion have offered new deals to backup goalkeepers Tim Krul and Niki Maenpaa, both of whom are out of contract this summer.
Krul arrived from Newcastle United in the final hours of the summer transfer window and at the time, it looked like he had been bought in to challenge Maty Ryan for the number one spot after Ryan’s less than convincing start to the season.
As it was, the Australian number one was outstanding from that point on, restricting Krul to only five appearances across both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup. Maenpaa meanwhile managed just one start and one substitute appearance, although that is a situation he has become used to having started only one league game since signing from VVV Venlo in the summer of 2015.
The need to secure quality back up to Ryan for this season is imperative given that the Albion will loose him for the whole of January and early February as Australia look to defend their Asian Cup title in the United Arab Emirates.
Depending on how the Premier League fixtures fall, that could mean Ryan missing as many as five league games and two FA Cup ties. The Socceroos will expect to go deep into the tournament, having been drawn in a relatively smooth group of Syria, Palestine and Shane Duffy’s favourite nation, Jordan.
Retaining the services of Krul and Maenpaa would also allow Christian Walton to spend another season out on loan. Having completed League Two and League One in the past two campaigns, the natural step would be to farm him back out to a Championship side with a season in the second tier preparing him sufficiently for a genuine tilt at unseating Ryan in 2020-21, presuming Ryan hasn’t caught the eyes of a bigger club than Brighton before then.
So, what are the chances of both Krul and Maenpaa staying? Maenpaa has publicly said he would like to remain at the club and clearly has no issue with his status as a backup goalkeeper, so as long as a sensible offer is on the table it seems likely he will stay.
As for Krul, he has said in private that he wants to play first team football next season, understandable given he hasn’t been a permanent number one at a club since the 2014-15 season at Newcastle and at 30, he should be hitting the prime of his goalkeeping career which he doesn’t want to spend sitting on the Amex bench.
Krul’s situation is also complicated by the fact that Barcelona are rumoured to be considering making him their backup goalkeeper should fellow Dutchman Jasper Cillesen depart Camp Nou. It’s unlikely that any Brighton goalkeeper has ever interested Barcelona before, not even Nicky Rust or Mark Walton.
As a result, Chris Hughton is said to have his eye on Fulham’s David Button should Krul move to pastures new. Button spent the second half of the Cottagers promotion season as second choice to Marcus Bettinelli having lost the number one spot in December and he has previously impressed in the Championship with Brentford.
Button is valued at around £4m but whatever happens, Hughton will know that Ryan’s guaranteed absence means he needs a quality number two next season, whether that be Krul or Button. We of course have a good record of buying goalkeepers from Fulham, although hopefully this one would be less fond of cake and counting money as the previous one.
