I don’t normally take any attention of transfer rumours but this has something official to it. Reports today say that Guillermo Ochoa’s on his way to Fulham for negotiations. Here’s a comment from his club:
“Club America reports that our goalkeeper, Francisco Guillermo Ochoa Magana, is traveling to London, England to attend the invitation made to Fulham FC and its Technical Director, Mr Mark Hughes.”
Source – http://www.mediotiempo.com/futbol/mexico/noticias/2010/12/08/las-aguilas-confirmaron-viaje-de-ochoa-a-inglaterra
The young Mexican goalkeeper, only 25, already has well over 200 appearances for club and country and was close to joining United not too long ago, not to mention his reputation as a beast of a goalie in Footy Manager (then again, Eddie Johnson was one of the best bargain buys of all time).
Now, after Schwarzer signed his contract extension it was natural to assume that he would stay for at least the next 7 months but it suprised me that he did after how much he pushed for a move, I thought that he had pushed it too far in the summer and his position was untenable. If this Ochoa fella does come however it won’t be for cheap, and you’d assume that it wouldn’t be as a second choice keeper either. Maybe Schwarzer until July and then Ochoa takes over as first choice from then? Was Hughes playing football politics and getting Mark on a longer contract to maximise his potential transfer value? Is it even a deal worth making?
To be honest there’s no point answering those questions unless the deal is actually done and we’ve seen time and time again deals that are this advanced collapse but it is interesting, and quite exciting, news nevertheless in a Fulham age where very little accurate transfer speculation is reported.
According to an espndeportes.com article the Club America president, Michel Bauer, confirms that Ochoa is on his way to Fulham for a visit but “at this time there is not an economic offer on the table, one which would open the possible signing of the keeper in the Premier League”.
http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/news/story?id=1188206&s=mex&type=story
as an american I’ve seen him play a bunch. I have to be honest, I know that he’s young, but I don’t think he could start in england right now. In a couple of years yes, but right now I don’t think he is consistent enough yet to take over a team in europe full time. If they were looking for someone young I’d much rather have brad guzan from Villa
The piece calls Sparky ‘Technical Director’ and as the club are usually ultra secretive regarding transfers, with us often only finding out about players after they’ve officially signed, I wouldn’t put much weight behind this story more so than any other.
Football Manager also rated Sanchez as a decent manager, and we all know what happened there…
gatesy i’d put that down to a poor google translation – and t looks like its happening, our media’s all over it now.
Patrick, are you high? Ochoa is, right now…better than Schwarzer by a country mile. I can’t believe you think he’s not ready for England. If you’ve watched him a bunch and came to that conclusion, you should probably spend some time and watch him more.
Don’t compare him to Guzan either. Stop drinking the USA kool aid.
Oh, I’m not high. The fact that he wasn’t the starting keeper for Mexico this summer should tell you something about his ability at the highest levels. Ochoa is a good keeper, but not great yet. The learning curve from mexico to the EPL will be big and he’s not shown at the international level that he can compete.
If you’ve seen Guzan play for the US and AV, you’d see its not kool aid. Guzan will wind up being a far better keeper than Ochoa, and I”d bet dollar to donuts that Hughes would take Guzan in a heartbeat if he could. Hes got 2 more eyars of technical/tactical experience in england, and under the tutelage of a fantastic, ageless keeper.