West Ham’s potential move for Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez has received a lot of criticism, but maybe it isn’t as bad as it seems. 

The Hammers need a goalkeeper this summer. Areola is an excellent shot stopper, but his poor distribution means we won’t be able to properly implement Potter’s style of play with him in goal.

One goalkeeper who knows exactly how to play how Potter wants is Rob Sanchez, and he is almost certainly going to be available for a decent fee this summer. The 50-year-old is a massive fan of the Spanish International, and has been since he first got into the Brighton squad.

In 2022, Potter said: “He has all the attributes you need to play at the highest level.” Potter then managed Sanchez again at Chelsea, where he continued to praise his number 1, even after he was sacked from Stamford Bridge.

“His high-end actions are world-class. He has got the power, the size, the agility, the speed, he just makes the goal look really, really small. He plucks things out of the air just effortlessly. So that doesn’t surprise me. He is still a young goalkeeper, so he’s still working on being consistent with how he did, but his high-end stuff is world-class. I think it’s about simplifying it sometimes with him. I think the structure that Enzo has put in will help him as well.

“But he has got a range of pass, he can go long, he can threaten the backline from the goalkeeper, that’s a real asset to have because as soon as you do that, it changes the defensive structure for the opponent because now they are thinking that guy is going to clear the backline. He has got all the tools to be an absolute top keeper.”

Sanchez has received a lot of criticism at Chelsea this season. He has made quite a few mistakes, but I do think some of the criticism was harsh. He was easily the best goalkeeper at that club last season. You could argue that Petrovic is better, and he, too, would be a good option for West Ham, but he was on loan at Strasbourg.

Robert Sanchez had the best save percentage of any goalkeeper in the Premier League who started over five matches, and he started 32/38 Premier League matches, which makes this a very impressive statistic. He is also eighth out of Premier League goalkeepers in xG prevented, he prevented two more goals than xG expected him to.

All in all, I think the reaction to us wanting to sign Robert Sanchez has been a bit over the top. Graham Potter clearly loves him, it’s worked well before and he counts as homegrown, despite playing for Spain. If we can get him for less than £15m, it would actually be a very smart signing.