West Ham United want to sign PAOK goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski in £8.5m+ deal
West Ham United are interested in signing PAOK goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski in a deal that could be worth in excess of £8.5m, according to Sportime.
Croatian Kotarski has been that starting goalkeeper for the Greek club since joining from Ajax in 2022, and kept an impressive 18 clean sheets in 41 appearances in all competitions last season.
That form has reportedly alerted Premier League clubs to his quality, with West Ham expressing an interest in the 23-year-old ahead of a potential summer transfer.
“It seems that in the previous 24 hours at least 2-3 teams have expressed this interest. And that the discussion takes place for amounts over 10million euros (£8.5m),” they wrote (4 July).
“Money that is of course not negligible for any team.
“What is particularly interesting is the rumor that among the teams that have inquired about Kotarski’s financial status are Premier League clubs. Many are saying that this is West Ham, without it being 100% confirmed yet. That is, the holder of the Europa Conference League.
“However, this is a development that makes the situation in PAOK even hotter, since it is about their main goalkeeper and one of the few who escaped last year’s bad season.”
Planning ahead
Lukasz Fabianski has put pen to paper on a new deal that will take him into another year at the London Stadium, but there is no doubting that he is past his best at this point.
The former Poland international was the number one goalkeeper last season as we battled against relegation for the majority of the campaign, while Alphonse Areola was the man between the sticks for the Europa Conference League win.
There have been some calls for the French stopper to become the number one going forward considering he signed a long-term contract last summer to join permanently after his loan.
But should that happen the club would have to start looking into potential competition for him once Fabianski were to leave and Kotarski fits that profile at just 23-years-old.
It could be a shrewd bit of business for the club to get ahead of the curve and bring in a young talent relatively cheaply, and would be a gamble worth taking.
In other West Ham news, one star has made a “semi-promise” to a prospective new club as he awaits progress on a summer transfer.