Cardiff City shot-stopper Neil Etheridge has completed a move to Birmingham City, with the fee believed to be around £1.5 million. The Philippines international was previously targeted by Premier League club West Ham United.
The 30-year-old joined Cardiff from Wallsall in 2017. He quickly established himself as the first-choice goalkeeper at Cardiff, helping the club achieve promotion to the Premier League. After promotion, Etheridge became the first Philippine player to play in the Premier League.
Birmingham City Sign Neil Etheridge
✍️ We are delighted to announce the signing of @Neil38Etheridge on a four-year deal.
— Birmingham City FC (@BCFC) September 11, 2020
Karanka’s Ambitions
New Birmingham boss Aitor Karanka sees goalkeeper as an area to strengthen after already bringing in Andres Prieto from Espanyol. He said in a press conference, speaking about Etheridge: “If he arrives then it will be perfect, if he doesn’t then another will arrive and be the right one.”
He also spoke about the experience that the goalkeeper would bring to the squad: “He has the experience, promotion experience, which is important as well with players like Adam [Clayton] and George [Friend], they know how nice it is to get promoted. Let’s see what happens.” Karanka has strong intentions and ambitions with Birmingham hoping to achieve what he did with Middlesbrough in 2015/16.
Birmingham start the season tomorrow with a tough home game against Brentford. Etheridge will be excited to get going in the Midlands and will be keen to impress everyone at St Andrews with his ability.
Etheridge only had ten months remaining on his contract and was fighting for the number one shirt with Alex Smithies and Joe Day, who both seemed to be favoured in front of the him by Neil Harris, despite previous boss Neil Warnock showing faith in him.
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