Fulham target Carlos Kameni is closer to signing for the club after revealing he would love to play in the Premier League, according to talkSPORT. The Espanyol goalkeeper could cost around £2 million if Fulham step-up their interest. New Cottagers manager Martin Jol is on the lookout for areas to strengthen his squad and hopes to make the Cameroon international his first major signing since taking his new job. The 27-year-old Kameni is considered to be one of the best keepers in La Liga. But he has now opened the door on an exit from Spain as he looks to show his quality in England. Fulham could now make a £2m bid for him. Kameni said: "I would love to play there. It is a fantastic league and a competitive league for keepers. "I want to experience another league and I have some contacts in the Premier League. "Nothing is done yet, but things can move quickly in football." The arrival of the Cameroon international would threaten Mark Schwarzer's future at Craven Cottage. He was the club's first-choice keeper for most of the last campaign, despite wanting to move to Arsenal at the start of the season.
This is ridiculous. We've got two class keepers, one of which is a future England international. Why are we not buying for positions we actually need?! Like a bloody full back or two?!?!
Bidley, I couldn't agree more. We don't need a keeper and actually I think that Stockdale should play more. Unless something is on the cards with Mark... Arsenal maybe?
And so say all of us. The two other threads about "Fullbacks" and "David Stockdale" make it abundantly clear where us fans believe the priorities should be. That said, the stuff picked up by the papers about Kameni comes from his Agent not the club.
Agreed Cottager, nothing yet from the club. Let's hope the old "there's no smoke without fire" saying doesn't hold true.
Bidley In total agreement,we have 2 excellent keepers who should work on a rotational basis. This whole talk of goalkeepers is definatley not our priority.
I've been thinking about this, and I think we're all approaching this the wrong way. Apologies for what I suspect is going to be quite a long post, but first a history lesson. In 2002, Chelsea fans voted Carlo Cudicini their player of the season. The following year he was chosen by ITV as the best keeper in the Premier League. In 03-04 season Chelsea were runners up - their best league finish for quite some time. Then Chelsea went and signed Petr Cech. At the time I couldn't see why they were replacing the best keeper in the division. How many of us now would see that as a bad piece of transfer business from Chelsea? Back to us and the present. We have two excellent goalkeepers who we like. If either one of them is Fulham's first choice keeper for next season, most if not all of us would be happy. Many of us have said that if we had to choose, we should keep Stockdale because he's younger (25) and could be our keeper for many years to come. We don't need Kameni. But Chelsea didn't 'need' Cech. Kemeni has played over 200 games in La Liga, and is - apparently - one of the best keepers in a very strong league, one which includes the likes of Casillas and the young Athletico Madrid feller that Man Utd are after. There's no reason to think that he isn't a very good goalkeeper. He's also only 27, which would give him all the advantages of potential longevity that Stockdale has over Schwarzer. I've never seen him play, but unless he turns out to be a teflon-gloved, over-hyped loon he would be a good signing, particularly if the price of £2million I've seen quoted is anywhere near correct. If we had to bring in an outside goalkeeper, he sounds like an excellent option. In summary: if both our keepers stay, we're happy. If Schwarzer leaves and Stockdale becomes number 1, we're happy. If Stockdale leaves and Schwarzer remains number one, we're okay for now but with less of a long-term solution. If one or both of our current keepers leave and we sign Kameni then we get the best of both worlds - an experienced, seasoned keeper (which Stockdale isn't) and a long-term option for the first team (which Schwarzer isn't). Personally, I'm hoping that Stockdale gets his chance, proves himself with us and stays for years. And it's true that we have other, more pressing needs for signings. But signing Kameni wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. That's my point.
Great points Captain I must say when you look at it like that I think we must keep Stockdale at all costs even if this new chap comes in
All good points very well made, Captain. I'm still against moving for Kameni though, especially as, unlike Chelsea, we already have two class keepers. There's also no guarantee that this Kameni is an upgrade on what we already have. I would also (at risk of coming off as a xenophobe) much rather give a young English keeper the #1 spot. All this is made to look even more silly when there are positions we desperately need addressing, and yet we're over-strengthening arguably our strongest position. What next, signing another couple of centre-backs?! However, as has been said, it's all paper talk, so we could be debating about absolutely nothing.
Captain re:your history lesson It is absolutely,to use as an example Chelsea,or come to that Man city/United,when comparing our situation to theirs in player spending .2mill for a keeper,when at the moment we have sufficient in that catagory.? that amount could be added to the fee,for the essential positions we need cover. To many iffs, maybees, in the aforementioned article to substantiate me enthusing over such a move, either factual or rumour.
I beg to differ, roscafre. The fact that the example was of moneybags Chelsea is irrelevent. £2mil is a cracking fee for an experienced goalkeeper, and considerably less than we would be likely to get if we sold Stockdale. We were rumoured to have agreed a fee of £4mil with Arsenal for Schwarzer last summer, and that was when he only had a year to go on his contract. He's got at least that much now. I can't see us signing a new keeper unless the powers that be at the club know that one of the existing two are leaving. In purely financial terms this would look like a great bit of business, which would potentially free up funds for other positions, not take away from them. I don't think there are any more ifs, or maybes in my comment than in the rest of the discussion about a signing that is, as you say, at this stage only a rumour. My point remains: if this is true, it's nothing for us to be worrying about; if it isn't true, it's nothing for us to be worrying about.
We all rate Stockdale I think, but as you say commodore, if there has been a good offer for him that compares well to whatever we may or may not be paying for Kameni, Jol may think that is good business if it frees up some funds.
Oh goodie, another keeper, we may as well go and tempt Van Der Sar out of retirement seen as we are collecting keepers. Seriously what an odd move, we have two of the best keepers in the league and we go after another. A bit like the Friedel signing at Spuds.
Schwarzer goes, in comes Kimeni with Stockdale. 2 young keepers. One for league, one for cups/Europe. Lovely jubbly! Happy days.
If this Kamani is so good how come we haven`t heard other "prem" clubs putting feelers out, especially when you see some of the poor quality around. Perusing the gossip columns in the past few weeks, there are quotes of at least 4 clubs looking to replace their keepers and thats in our league.
Kameni was actually linked with a few of the big clubs a few seasons back, I think he was targeted as a possible replacement for Schmeichel at one point, not sure why he's gone off the boil though.
