Birmingham City look set to lose no.1 John Ruddy after Luton Town agreed a £750,000 deal for the 36-year-old shot-stopper.
That update came courtesy of the Daily Mail on Monday afternoon, with the deal still there to be finalised.
Birmingham City will be allowed to sign a replacement shot-stopper before Ruddy’s move goes through though. That means the Blues need to divert their attention to replacements, and quick. Here, we put forward three options to consider…
Marek Rodak – Fulham
Rodak is a proven goalkeeper at Championship level but with Bernd Leno on the books, he’s still only Fulham’s no.2. At 26, the time has come for him to play on a regular basis and to do that, he might have to leave Craven Cottage.
Birmingham City would be a great place for him to take the next steps in his career and if a deal is there to be done, Rodak may well be the standout of the three options listed.
Max Stryjek – Wycombe Wanderers
Another worth considering is Wycombe Wanderers’ former Sunderland man Stryjek. He too has had to bide his time for a chance to catch the eye but after leaving Sunderland and then enduring spells in non-league and Scotland, the Polish ‘keeper is working his way back up the ladder.
He kept 17 clean sheets in 41 League One games last season and looks like a player ready for a chance in a higher league. He could prove tough to tempt away from Adams Park though given his importance to the Chairboys.
Tomas Vaclik – Free agent
At 34, Vaclik is by far the most experienced player on this list and as a free agent, it might be that he needs time to get back up to speed after his exit from Huddersfield Town earlier this summer.
However, Ruddy has shown you can’t write off ‘keepers just because of their age and after his influential role in keeping Huddersfield up, he could do a job for the Blues. He’s played over 500 games at club level and has 54 caps for Czechia, so his pedigree would be hard to match.
