Why Fulham must tie Marcus Bettinelli down to a new contract
According to a report from Sky Sports, Fulham are set to reward 26-year-old goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli with a new contract, days after he received his first call-up to the England national team. The shot-stopper’s current deal runs till 2020 with an option to extend it a year further but the Cottagers are set to open talks over new terms (h/t Sky Sports).
Son of academy goalkeeping coach Vic Bettinelli, Marcus rose through the ranks at Fulham and had loan spells away at Dartford and Accrington Stanley, before breaking into the first-team in the 2014/15 campaign. In that term, he made 45 appearances in all competitions but the Cottagers were relegated from the Premier League.
However, in the three years since his debut campaign, the 26-year-old has often started either as the second-choice or even the third-choice keeper. Nonetheless, the Englishman always managed to fight back and reclaim the No.1 spot in each season and has almost always positively impacted the Cottagers’ performances.
Case in point, the 2016/17 season when Fulham’s hopes of a playoff finish seemed done and dusted with just six matches left to play. However, a poor display from No.1 David Button against Derby County in April meant Bettinelli was handed the goalkeeping spot for the next games. And the Cottagers went on to win five and draw one to finish sixth and enter the playoffs.
A similar scenario ensued in the 2017/18 campaign as well. The 26-year-old was once again behind Button in the pecking order after a pre-season injury. But he clawed his way back into the starting XI towards the end of the last year. At the time, Fulham were 15th in the table but upon his return, they went on a historic 23-match unbeaten run with Bettinelli keeping clean sheets against the likes of Wolverhampton Wanderers, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough.
The goalkeeper then managed to shut out Derby County and Villa in the semi-finals and the finals of the playoffs respectively, to fire Fulham back to the top-flight. Bettinelli ended the campaign with 14 clean sheets from 30 games in all competitions, with 11 of them coming in that remarkable 23-match unbeaten run.
After a fairy-tale season last time out, Bettinelli was once again shunted out of the first-team in the ongoing term, following the summer arrivals of Fabri and Sergio Rico.
However, after a poor start to the campaign, the Englishman was reinstated in the goal after just two games and the Cottagers managed to win one and draw one with him in the line-up. He put on a man-of-the-match display in Fulham’s 2-2 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion this past weekend, producing a fantastic penalty save in the first half.
It has been anything but easy going for Bettinelli at Fulham but the 26-year old has stuck to his guns and has kept proving himself time and again. Each time he was pushed out of the first-team picture, he came back stronger. After last season’s heroics, it is only fair that he is offered new and improved terms by the club.
