Barcelona have been on the hunt for a back-up goalkeeper in recent
weeks, and are rumoured to be considering Kasper Schmeichel, of
course the son of legendary 'keeper Peter.
Barcelona's usual reserve custodian Albert Jorquera is likely to
miss a lot of the season through injury, and it is thought a
replacement was sought after anyway after some below-average
performances from the Catalan native.
In the past few weeks Barcelona have been linked with several
names, perhaps audaciously Chelsea's Petr Cech, as well as older
'keepers such as Santiago Canizares, recently 'sacked' by Valencia,
or Jens Lehmann, who was benched for Manuel Almunia earlier this
season.
While Cech seems unattainable and nothing has been confirmed by
Canizares, Lehmann has turned down the move, as he seeks first team
football in order to keep his spot as Germany's first choice
goalkeeper heading into Euro 2008.
So it is Schmeichel who has appeared on Barca's radar, no doubt in
part due to his name, but the youngster also put in some courageous
performances early this season when called upon by Manchester City,
and Barcelona may be quietly confident that the youngster could
reach the great heights of his father and eventually succeed Victor
Valdes between the sticks at the Camp Nou.
Schmeichel may indeed be eager to move after he lost his first team
place when City's goalkeeper injury woes lessened and Andreas
Isaksson regained his first team slot.
