Everton announced on Friday that Huddersfield Town goalkeeper Jonas Lössl will join the Blues on July 1, having signed a three-year contract at Goodison Park.
Lössl, 30, spent two seasons with the Terriers, initially joining on loan from German club Mainz 05 in the summer of 2017 before making a permanent move a year later.
The Dane made 69 Premier League appearances for relegated Huddersfield, keeping 12 top-flight clean sheets in that time.
Following Lössl’s move to Merseyside, we spoke to Huddersfield fan and sports writer John McNamara, creator of Terrierblog to get his thoughts on Everton’s latest recruit:
RBM: Firstly, what did you make of Lössl during his two years with Huddersfield?
John: He was and is a decent goalkeeper without being particularly spectacular. During certain games, he undoubtedly earned us points on his own from fantastic saves - most notably away to Chelsea last season when we sealed safety.
In contrast, he also cost us points due to some pretty poor lapses in concentration. He’s good with his feet and can pick out a player well, but at times he would inexplicably pick out an opposition player, which to me seemed to be down to a lack of concentration rather than technical ability.
RBM: Huddersfield had the second-worst defence in the Premier League this season, conceding 76 goals. How much of their woes at the back were down to Lössl?
John: To be fair to Jonas, 22 of those goals came in the seven games that he didn’t feature in, with Ben Hamer being the main culprit in goal.
Also, you have to look at Huddersfield’s collapse from January onwards; when relegation became apparent, performances plummeted, and as a result, we went from losing by the odd goal to losing by at least three or four.
Whereas Hamer was definitely culpable in one or two of our drubbings, I never quite felt the same about Jonas.
RBM: Lössl was dropped for a number of games towards the end of the season. Did he deserve it?
John: Jonas was dropped from the team on two occasions last season. He sat out the first two-and-a-half games of the season due to a contract dispute. After Denmark’s decent showing at the World Cup he returned with a new-found belief and huge wage demands, which he had somehow got from sitting on the bench during the tournament.
His demands were not met, and according to one or two sources within the club, he became a disruptive voice in the changing room. Had Hamer not suffered an injury midway through our third game of the season, it’s unlikely Jonas would have featured much at all last season.
When Jan Siewert took charge in January, he had to battle with a series of disruptive forces in the dressing room; chief among them was, again, Jonas, and this time there was no reprieve for him.
The Dane sat out the majority of the rest of the season, featuring once when he set up a goal against Manchester United and let one squirm through his legs.
RBM: While Jordan Pickford will undoubtedly remain Everton’s number one goalkeeper, a lack of competition has previously been cited as an issue for him. Can you see Lössl solving this problem?
John: I doubt that Pickford is going to lose much sleep over this deal. When you need a goalkeeper to step in, then Jonas will do just that, and he will probably perform to an okay standard. If you’re looking for a keeper to push for a starting place and spur Pickford on to greater things, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.
Jonas has done incredibly well for himself with this deal and I wish him the best of luck; I only wish I could have the same luck as him. Imagine being asked to do less work and getting paid more for the privilege? Fantastic stuff.
Our thanks to John for his time.