Sunday Sun

Darren is true golden goalie

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A GOOD goalkeeper is worth his weight in gold to any team – and in Darren Randolph Boro have made a 24 carat signing.

The former West Ham keeper is not only solid and dependable, but he has made many vital saves which have helped save valuable points.

His crucial derby day saves against Sunderland were off the top shelf.

Most of our knowledge of Randolph last season was based on watching him on Match of the Day. I, for one, never realised he was such a top drawer keeper.

However Garry Monk was well aware of the special talents of the Republic of Ireland internatio­nal because he was on the phone to West Ham within hours of them announcing the signing of Joe Hart.

It took £5m to prise Randolph away from West Ham but looks like money well spent. Certainly Boro believed in him strongly enough to hand him a fouryear contract.

It was an added bonus that Randolph took absolutely no convincing to step down to the Championsh­ip and move to the North-east.

He said: “Leaving West Ham was an easy choice as it was made clear I wasn’t going to be the No.1.

“That’s football for you. One of the things I wanted to achieve was to prove to people that I could do it at Premier League level and I did that.

“The main thing for me is to be playing regularly. Boro offered me that chance and, in any case, I believe that I have come to a Premier League club in the making.

“Also I knew that if I wanted to continue playing for Ireland I had to stay active.”

Randolph is Ireland’s No.1 keeper ahead of Sheffield Wednesday’s Keiren Westwood who, ironically, was also strongly linked with a move to the Riverside during the summer.

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