One of the stars of Cardiff City’s 2018-19 Premier League campaign, despite being relegated from the Premier League, was goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, who was awarded Cardiff City’s Player of the Year award.
The English-born Philippines international made the second-most saves in the 2018-19 season, behind West Ham United’s Lukasz Fabianski.
Cardiff manager Neil Warnock has now revealed that he will not come in the way of Etheridge leaving the club and will allow the 29-year-old to leave if a good offer comes in for him.
Warnock is confident of the goalkeepers he has in his squad and said that he will not be worried if Etheridge leaves the club.
Premier League new boys Aston Villa have been linked with a move for the goalkeeper, with Express and Star reporting earlier this week that Dean Smith is still interested in signing him.
Wales Online have revealed that Cardiff rejected a bid of £8 million for Etheridge from Villa.
Etheridge has been with Cardiff since 2017, after having come through the ranks at Fulham, before a few loan spells and permanent deals and then the move to Cardiff. The goalkeeper has made 85 appearances for the club in the last two seasons.
Do Aston Villa need Neil Etheridge?
Aston Villa have had a busy transfer window, having signed as many as 10 players since being promoted to the Premier League after their win in the Championship play-off final.
The Villans currently have three goalkeepers – Norwegian Ørjan Nyland, who played 23 times last season for Villa, 29-year-old Croatian Lovre Kalinić, who joined the club in January 2019 and played 8 times, and 26-year-old Jed Steer, who was recalled from loan after injuries to Nyland and Kalinic, and played 19 times for Villa last season.
Neither of the three has considerable Premier League experience, with Steer playing just a handful of games in the Premier League. Nyland and Kalinic have also not played consistently in top leagues in Europe, which could make the transition to Premier League football a tricky one.
Etheridge, on the other hand, had a fantastic season in the Premier League last season with Cardiff, impressing with his impressive shot-stopping.
The 29-year-old, who played every game for Cardiff in the Premier League last season, made an average of 3.6 saves per game.
Villa should certainly make a move for him if they can get him for a fee of around £10 million. He has Premier League experience and looked up to the task last season for Cardiff and should once again play in the Premier League.
