Randolph a keeper for boss Monk
MIDDLESBROUGH have signed Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Darren Randolph from West Ham for £5million.
The stopper, 30, has put pen to paper on a four-year deal.
“I am delighted to get it all signed and completed,” Randolph said.
“Arriving here and seeing the facilities, it is definitely a Premier League club. I want to come here and get the club back to where it belongs and be part of something special.”
Randolph recently saw Joe Hart arrive at the London Stadium, meaning he was likely to play second fiddle at best for the Hammers.
He becomes Garry Monk’s sixth senior signing as the new boss bids to take Boro back to the Premier League after last season’s relegation.
Jonny Howson, Cyrus Christie, Martin Braithwaite, Britt Assombalonga and Connor Roberts have already signed in at the Riverside.
Randolph joined the Hammers in 2015 and went on to make 42 appearances and finished last season as their No.1 goalkeeper.
The campaign ended on a high for Randolph when he won the Hammers’ Save of the Season award at the Players’ Awards dinner for his stunning fingertip stop in the game against Liverpool in December 2016.
Hammers boss Slaven Bilic insisted he wanted Randolph to stay at West Ham.
He said: “I would like to thank Darren for his service to the club over the past two years.
“He has been a fantastic professional and, as a player and a person, he has the respect of everyone at West Ham.
“Darren is a very good goalkeeper and I didn’t want him to leave.
“However, I could not guarantee him regular first-team football and, with the possibility of playing at the World Cup for the Republic of Ireland next summer, he wanted to take up the offer from Boro.”
Meanwhile, West Ham last night finally completed the signing of Marko Arnautovic for a club-record fee from Stoke.
The Austria international, 28, penned a five-year deal with the Hammers after a fee of £25m was agreed between the two clubs, with Stoke earlier rejecting an offer of £20m.
Arnautovic said: “It feels special to me to be a West Ham player.
“Everyone knows that West Ham is a big club with big history and I’m happy to be a part of it now.
“I can’t wait to get started.” SWANSEA star Gylfi Sigurdsson is definitely worth £50million in today’s money-mad Premier League – and, arguably, even more.
That is the view of former Wales and Swansea wing wizard Leighton James as Everton continue to lead the chase for the prolific Iceland playmaker.
So far the big-spending Merseysiders have f ailed to persuade the Swans to sell Sigurdsson, 27, and have had a £40m bid rejected.
The Welsh outfit insist they will not do business for anything less than £50m – and James is right behind that stance.
He is fed up watching the English elite buy world-class stars from smaller clubs on the relative cheap and believes Swansea must not cave in – especially when other players, such as England defender Kyle Walker, are going for huge sums.
As good as Walker was for Tottenham before his £50m switch to Manchester City earlier this month, James claims his impact at White Hart Lane does not come close to that of Sigurdsson at the Liberty Stadium.
The versatile Icelander, who can play wide or as a No.10, finished last season with 10 goals and 13 assists and was pivotal in Paul Clement’s men avoiding relegation.
James, 64, who was part of John Toshack’s Swansea team that reached the top flight in the early 80s, said: “If Gylfi goes then he should cost at least £50m.
“There’s a real arrogance in big clubs thinking they can take top players off other clubs at the price they choose – £50m in the modern game is the going rate, especially if you think Walker went to City for that.
“No disrespect but he’s a full-back, who won’t win you many g ames. Sigurdsson is the opposite. He does win you games. He scores goals and is brilliant with set-pieces.
“Everything in the current market i s under p i n n e d by supply and demand – and that’s why Everton’s £40m is not enough.
“They have sold Romelu Lukaku for £ 75m. They now need to replace his goals. Why should they not pay what Swansea ask?”
Forcing Sigurdsson, who has two years on his contract, to stay against his will is not an option, according to James.
Spurs are also in the hunt for his signature after coach Mauricio Pochettino admitted he made a mistake letting him go in July 2014.
Red Dragons legend James, capped 54 times, added: “I don’t know why he’d go back to a club where it didn’t work out first time.
“But I can understand the financial aspect will be hugely attractive and can turn anybody’s head. It is very difficult not to be swayed when your salary will go from £50,000 to £150,000 a week.
“I dearly want Gylfi to stay because he was the main factor in us staying up. But the key for Swansea is they reinvest all the money they get for him.”
James is adamant Swansea must not allow the saga to drag on.
“I’d prefer the window to close once the season starts but we can’t afford to lose our best player just before it shuts,” he said.
“That happened last summer when Ashley Williams signed for Everton two days before the end of the window. That hurt the club because you can’t get a replacement in that amount of time.”
To date, James has been underwhelmed by Swansea’s summer transfer business – and it is much the same when it comes to boss Clement. “I am in a minority but I have not been that impressed by the manager,” said the ex-Burnley man. “He has so-called contacts at Bayern, Real Madrid and Chelsea but we need to see the evidence. We signed Tammy Abraham on loan from Chelsea but he’s unproven. Roque Mesa from Las Palmas i s a n u n k n o wn quantity too.
“There are lots of ponderables and the jury’s still out. If Gylfi goes we’ll be weaker than last season and that worries me.
“Nobody will be happier than me if I’m wrong. I’d love that to happen and to admit I was mistaken.”