Should Leeds United look at West Ham goalkeeper Adrian as a transfer target?

West Ham United is having an awful season. Between the dire performances on the pitch, transfer spats between the board and other teams, and now reports coming out about the shady deal that landed the London Stadium for the Hammers, you wouldn’t blame Hammer fans for just wishing that this season was over already.

To add fuel to the fire of disgruntled fan’s rage, West Ham lost to Manchester City in a match that they lead at half-time against the Premier League leaders. One of the biggest takeaways from the match was the remarkable performance of Adrián, the West Ham keeper who had been a starter for much of his time at West Ham since coming to the club in 2013 after starting his career at Real Betis in La Liga.

Last year, Adrián was replaced for a time by Republic of Ireland keeper Darren Randolph, and at the time the Spaniard was disappointed to be dropped. He eventually found his way back into the starting line-up after some rather embarrassing goalkeeper blunders from Randolph. And while Adrián was retained at the end of season, West Ham’s board, not content to simply grab one washed-up Manchester City player in Pablo Zabaleta, also signed Manchester City’s England goalkeeper Joe Hart.

Hart does not seem to be in the plans of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, as Hart spent all of last year on loan at Torino in Serie A, and so it wasn’t surprising to see Hart move on. However, it seemed a curious loan deal for West Ham. Many other areas of the team needed to be addressed, but instead the board paid Man City £4 million on top of Hart’s wages for his services for the year, leaving a perfectly good option, Adrián, sitting on the bench and selling Darren Randolph on to Middlesbrough.

West Ham is in the relegation places with fans being frustrated by the lack of planning in the transfer window. The club also allowed former manager Slaven Bilić to twist in the wind before replacing him with David Moyes, who recently was in charge of Sunderland’s relegation from the Premier League last year. The club, and the new manager, is not inspiring confidence at the moment.

The current upheaval at West Ham partnered with Adrián’s unhappiness at being sidelined could mean that an opportunity to grab the Spaniard during the January transfer window. Since it appears that Joe Hart is required to be the starting goalkeeper, no matter the performance, Adrián could be looking for a way out of the sinking ship and with Leeds United’s director of football Victor Orta having many contacts in Spain, Adrián could be persuaded to come north and play for Leeds.

If Leeds United decide to move on from goalkeeper Felix Wieldwald as a starter, Adrián could be just what the Yorkshire club needs to get some more consistent goalkeeping and make the push towards promotion.