Maarten Stekelenburg

[HappySpur]

Steklelenburg seems to have become our #1 target as goalkeeper, since Lyon have demanded too much money for Lloris. This is now the place to discuss him, his strengths and his faults.

Goal.com story

Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas has targeted the Netherlands No.1 after learning that Roma are ready to cash in on the goalkeeper if their valuation of between £5.5-7m is met.

The Premier League club have grown frustrated in their pursuit of Lloris after being unable to agree a fee with Lyon for the France international.

Spurs, whose offer on the table stands at £12m, have abandoned plans to submit a fresh £13.5m bid for Lloris.

And sources say that Stekelenburg, 29, has now emerged as a serious alternative for Villas-Boas, who wants a more youthful keeper to replace Brad Friedel, who turned 41 in May.

Birmingham keeper and Olympic Team GB member Jack Butland, 19, also has his admirers at White Hart Lane.

New Roma boss Zdenek Zeman is ready to offload Stekelenburg to raise funds to strengthen other areas of his squad. The Czech coach has been told by club chiefs that there will be no more newcomers unless he brings in some money.

Zeman wants a goalkeeper who can build attacks from the back and, as revealed by Goal.com, has made an enquiry for Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar.

Cesar, who is surplus to requirements at San Siro, is the top goalkeeper on Zeman’s shortlist, followed by Chievo No.1 Stefano Sorrentino.

Stekelenburg had an unconvincing season in 2011-12 after joining Roma from Ajax in the summer of 2011. The Netherlands international not only missed a number of games due to injuries, but he also received two red cards in Serie A.

His agent Rob Jansen was quoted on Thursday as saying that the Dutchman is keen on a move to England.

“Maarten is indeed one of the three goalkeepers on Tottenham's shortlist," Jansen said to Voetbal International.

“He plays for a big club right now and is happy [at Roma]. However, Tottenham are a big club as well, and it has always been a dream for Maarten to play in the Premier League.”

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And here is what Gomes' friend Lucio thinks about this story

 

[Bill_Oddie]

Stekles for say 6m is good business, I reckon. Very good business, really. Excellent goalkeeper. Surely provides better competition for Big Brad than Cuddly "cracker-wrists" Cudicini.

Can't help but think this is who the 4th keeper in the "couldn't agree 3 deals of 4" ITK is about. After Butland, Lloris and maybe Cesar, we've turned to Stekelenburg, who frankly has been the best of the bunch on past form. Just that question about how he's returning from injury.

 

[Outnumbered]

Wouldn't be my first choice, but if we got him in. I would like to see us make a move for Butland and sent him out on loan again.

 

[Berglad]

Wayne Veysey ‏@wayneveysey
Key for Spurs is that Roma are ready to cash in on Stekelenburg to strengthen other areas & he won't cost the earth. Max €9million (£7m)

 

[deselina]

Stekelenburg is proven and should do very well for Spurs. People keep forgetting that he's ahead of Vorm and Krul in the Dutch picking order.

 

[liam17oi]

Hmmm he's good but nothing more in my opinion. A bit of a meh, really. Seems a bit erratic at times and spills balls - pushes into dangerous areas.

Would like to hear Deselina's views on him if she's still around.

 

[liam17oi]

Stekelenburg is proven and should do very well for Spurs. People keep forgetting that he's ahead of Vorm and Krul in the Dutch picking order.

Speak of the devil.

Thanks

 

[HighVoltage]

Hmmm he's good but nothing more in my opinion. A bit of a meh, really. Seems a bit erratic at times and spills balls - pushes into dangerous areas..

I agree, he also received two red cards while playing at Roma and caused a few penalties from errors which reminded me of Gomes.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/player/_/id/11631/maarten-stekelenburg?cc=5739

 

[puella]

From a Roma fan via CartilageFreeCaptain:
Huge Roma supporter, Spurs are my EPL team/only other club team I pull for.
The reason Stek is for sale is our new coach. Zeman plays an extreme attacking 4-3-3 where Maarten will be left with a ton of 1v1’s, which given his size and track record (two red cards last season, only one was legit but 2 nonetheless) he isn’t the best at. The rumor is Zeman wants a better 1v1 keeper like Julio Cesar or someone else. Someone with less size, better reflexes. Other rumors also say he isn’t great with the ball at his feet or playing off the line and that’s the reason they want to sell. Also have heard he hasn’t picked up the Italian language well and isn’t happy at the club. 
All of us at the Roma blog don’t want Stek to leave, we love him and think he has tons of potential, but the management may have other ideas. If you guys end up buying him for 5 million or so, it wouldn’t be bad. Probably better than buying Lloris for more that double. I was at the game in NJ the other night, Spurs need some strikers ASAP, use some of the saved money on one that’s better than Borriello.

 

[AngerManagement]

I'd be very happy with him, would be good business for less than £10m I think

 

[liam17oi]

From a Roma fan via CartilageFreeCaptain:
Huge Roma supporter, Spurs are my EPL team/only other club team I pull for.
The reason Stek is for sale is our new coach. Zeman plays an extreme attacking 4-3-3 where Maarten will be left with a ton of 1v1’s, which given his size and track record (two red cards last season, only one was legit but 2 nonetheless) he isn’t the best at. The rumor is Zeman wants a better 1v1 keeper like Julio Cesar or someone else. Someone with less size, better reflexes. Other rumors also say he isn’t great with the ball at his feet or playing off the line and that’s the reason they want to sell. Also have heard he hasn’t picked up the Italian language well and isn’t happy at the club. 
All of us at the Roma blog don’t want Stek to leave, we love him and think he has tons of potential, but the management may have other ideas. If you guys end up buying him for 5 million or so, it wouldn’t be bad. Probably better than buying Lloris for more that double. I was at the game in NJ the other night, Spurs need some strikers ASAP, use some of the saved money on one that’s better than Borriello.

Begs the question then, why would he suit us?

Could all be to make Aulas bring Lloris' price down. That's what I hope anyway.

 

[Partizan]

Hmmm he's good but nothing more in my opinion. A bit of a meh, really. Seems a bit erratic at times and spills balls - pushes into dangerous areas.

Would like to hear Deselina's views on him if she's still around.

Look up!

 

[Hitch]

From a Roma fan via CartilageFreeCaptain:
Huge Roma supporter, Spurs are my EPL team/only other club team I pull for.
The reason Stek is for sale is our new coach. Zeman plays an extreme attacking 4-3-3 where Maarten will be left with a ton of 1v1’s, which given his size and track record (two red cards last season, only one was legit but 2 nonetheless) he isn’t the best at. The rumor is Zeman wants a better 1v1 keeper like Julio Cesar or someone else. Someone with less size, better reflexes. Other rumors also say he isn’t great with the ball at his feet or playing off the line and that’s the reason they want to sell. Also have heard he hasn’t picked up the Italian language well and isn’t happy at the club. 
All of us at the Roma blog don’t want Stek to leave, we love him and think he has tons of potential, but the management may have other ideas. If you guys end up buying him for 5 million or so, it wouldn’t be bad. Probably better than buying Lloris for more that double. I was at the game in NJ the other night, Spurs need some strikers ASAP, use some of the saved money on one that’s better than Borriello.

That sounds like exactly the kind of keeper that wouldn't suit AVB's system either.

 

[sbrustad]

That sounds like exactly the kind of keeper that wouldn't suit AVB's system either.

While that is true, I believe playing the kind of system that completely exposes your goalkeeper to lots of 1v1 situations probably isn't ideal. I get that there are some obvious differences in playing style from manager to manager, but I've never seen one that leaves the team so open they need a 1v1 specialist to not concede. Playing a high defensive line the defenders should still play opposing attackers offside.

I could understand Stekelenburg wanting to leave if he struggles with the language and/or can't manage to settle in Italy. The rest of this does not really make sense.

 

[Strikeb4ck]

He was garbage throughout all of the Euro's, looked hopeless at times. Yes he's ahead of Krul/Vorm, but much like Lloris with Mandanda, he shouldn't be!

Friedel is better.

 

[parklane1]

Good keeper and at that price would be a good addition.

 

[Limee]

I haven't seen that much of him since the summer we bought Gomes, who was definitely the better keeper of the two, does he still stay glued to his line like he did back then?

 

[Mattbob]

I want to like him, he would fit in well with jan an vdv but from what I've seen of him Harry's Sandra could deal with crosses and command the area better than he does... He was woeful at the euros too

 

[neptunes]

SKYSPORTSITALIA

Saying us looking at him. He is on his way out of Roma. Last season was not up to it with Roma.

 

[lenny7]

Great keeper on his day, thinking back to van der Saar, he wouldn't be the first Dutch keeper to struggle a bit in Italy either.

Him or Lloris would be awesome, very happy with either.