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Jamal Blackman’s widely predicted arrival at Elland Road was made official today, as Leeds United announced that the Chelsea keeper would spend the 2018-19 season on loan at Leeds.
Blackman is the second Chelsea player to arrive on loan this transfer window, as Lewis Baker has already arrived for a season-long loan.
✍️ | Leeds United are pleased to confirm the signing of goalkeeper Jamal Blackman on a season-long loan deal
— Leeds United (@LUFC) July 16, 2018
Blackman has been linked with a move to Elland Road ever since he posted pictures of him at Thorp Arch on Instagram, and it was confirmed before the weekend that he was expected to be made official early this week.
It is also expected that he will feature in the first preseason match against Forest Green Rovers which will be played at The New Lawn on Tuesday night.
Leeds have been searching for an experienced keeper during the summer transfer window after allowing Felix Wiedwald to head back to the Bundesliga to join up with Eintracht Frankfurt and agreeing to cancel Andy Lonergan’s contract with mutual consent. Birmingham City’s David Stockdale has also been linked, but that deal has appears to be headed nowhere as the two clubs appear totally unable to come to an agreement.
Bailey Peacock-Farrell is the only keeper on the roster with a senior appearance in English football right now, although the club seems to be high on recent signing Kamil Miazek, who joined Leeds after a trial this past September. Miazek had been released by Feyenoord in The Netherlands before going to Poland, where he trained before coming to England to try and make a club in the Championship.
Peacock-Farrell played well enough down the stretch to warrant a crack at earning the starting goalkeeper job this year, but he’s still only got less around a dozen senior appearances in the Championship. And while he did get a call-up to the senior Northern Ireland team and make his debut in a friendly, there have been plenty of young keepers that have had the keys to the kingdom handed to them too early, only to end up flubbing their lines and unable to handle the pressure, never to be heard from again.
Blackman had a successful loan spell at Sheffield United last season, and is exactly the kind of signing that a club intent on gaining promotion to the Premier League makes. He is sure to do well this season with Leeds.