West Ham block Randolph joining Leeds or Villa on loan

Both Leeds United and Aston Villa failed in bids to sign Darren Randolph from West Ham when the Hammers blocked a loan move for the goalkeeper, according to a report from The Athletic.

Randolph has endured a frustrating season at the London Stadium. Of course, he returned to the club in 2020 when Lukasz Fabianski was already well-established as the club’s first-choice.

But he has fallen to third in the pecking order this season. David Moyes’ side signed Alphonse Areola on loan in the summer.

In fact, the clash with Manchester United last month was the first time that Randolph had been included on the bench in the Premier League this season. Meanwhile, he has been backup goalkeeper in all of the domestic cup competitions.

Villa ended up signing Robin Olsen in their bid to provide Emi Martinez with greater cover. Meanwhile, Leeds did not bring any first-team signings to Elland Road during the month.

But perhaps events could have played out differently had West Ham sanctioned Randolph’s exit.

The Athletic reports that both Leeds and Villa saw loan bids blocked by the Hammers.

Leeds could rue West Ham decision on Randolph as Aston Villa turn to Olsen

Randolph is coming towards the end of his career. And he has only made a handful of appearances in the two years since he has been back at West Ham. But he has been a solid performer over the last decade. Slaven Bilic previously labelled him a ‘great‘ goalkeeper when in charge of the Hammers.

And it may be a decision that Leeds rue if they experience further bad luck with injury. Illan Meslier is one of the last senior players in the squad to have not been ruled out at some stage this season.

His understudy this term has been Kristoffer Klaesson. Unfortunately, the summer signing has yet to look particularly convincing in the under-23s.

Signing someone like Randolph would not have been an exciting move from Leeds by any means. And he could have easily returned to West Ham without featuring once. But it was certainly not a terrible decision to have a look at the Republic of Ireland international.