Image via Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
Yesterday, Tomasz Włodarczyk revealed that Leicester are considering bringing in Bartłomiej Drągowski during the January transfer window as a replacement for the underperforming Danny Ward. Drągowski, who was named Ekstraklasa Goalkeeper of the Season in 2014-15 (his first full year), currently plays for Spezia in Serie A.
According to Włodarczyk, talks are already at an advanced stage and there is an agreement on personal terms for Drągowski. I imagine Spezia will hold out for a decent fee, given that they signed the 25 year-old keeper on a three-year deal this past summer.
As to whether Drągowski would be a good fit, you’d imagine Leicester can’t do much worse than Ward given his poor form to start the season. Drągowski has often been seen as a pure shot-stopper, often choosing to parry the ball away from areas of danger than collect. He’s competent with the ball at his feet, and is brave when he does go to collect the ball, although this occasionally backfires. With his slick hair and beard, he looks a bit like Alisson and although he’s far from that level, Drągowski’s performances over the past few seasons indicate he has a lot of potential to improve further still entering his mid-20s.
Drągowski himself has his heart set on a move to the Premier League; he was close to joining Southampton in the summer, but the move broke down and he joined Spezia. It’s also worth mentioning that Drągowski is probably now seen as Poland’s no.2 goalkeeper, having overtaken Łukasz Skorupski in the pecking order behind Wojciech Szczęsny.
I would be surprised if Spezia let him go easily given they will have had him for less than six months, but the Premier League is hard to turn down both from a financial and sporting point of view, so it’s quite possible we will see Drągowski in a Leicester shirt in January.
This is all one journalist’s reporting, but Włodarczyk is arguably the most reputable sports journalist working in Poland today, so you’d imagine there is a large slice of truth to his reports. In my opinion, it’s almost certain that personal terms have been agreed with Drągowski, but it’s most likely that Leicester and Spezia are still some way off between agreeing a fee.
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