Manchester United goalkeeper Radek Vitek has suitors in the Championship, with Millwall keen on signing the Czech goalkeeper this summer.
Vitek is looking for the opportunity to play first-team football and will be hoping to make the step up to the Championship. Last season, he played for Austrian Bundesliga side Blau Weiss Linz, making 26 league appearances.
Millwall are very interested in the signing, but might find it hard to secure Vitek without a guarantee of the Czech being a regular starter.
Millwall’s interest in Manchester United’s youngster
As mentioned, Radek Vitek is very much on Millwall’s radar, as Alan Nixon revealed on his Patreon on Sunday. Millwall’s current first-choice goalkeeper, Lukas Jensen, impressed a lot of supporters last season, keeping 14 clean sheets across 43 matches.
Conceding just 1.07 goals per game (GA90) last season, Millwall had the seventh-best defensive record in the league. Unfortunately for the Lions, Jensen suffered an achilles injury in April, leaving the keeper out indefinitely.
Millwall head coach Alex Neil was disappointed by the loss of Lukas Jensen, saying to the club’s media team, “It’s one of those freak injuries and we’ve lost a goalkeeper who has been terrific for us this year”.
Following Jensen’s injury, Millwall have had no choice but to set their eyes elsewhere for a new number one. Radek Vitek has been targeted as a suitable replacement with comparable statistics to the current Millwall keeper.
Despite Vitek conceding significantly more goals per 90 than Jensen, 1.35 GA90, the Blau Weiss Linz man had a save percentage of 72.1%, which is considerably higher than Jensen’s 69.7%. This save percentage is comparable to that of Viktor Johansson and Illan Meslier last season.
Radek Vitek wants first-team football
Currently, as a U21 keeper for Manchester United, Vitek should be under no illusion that he’ll be starting in the Premier League next season. As a 21-year-old, however, he is looking at getting significant experience as a senior option.
This is why Millwall may struggle to confirm the signing of Vitek, as it would be a huge gamble to take on such a young keeper who has no experience playing in England’s top two tiers of football.
If Millwall were to sign Vitek, it would be quite likely that they would also secure the name of another goalkeeper. Although the ideal situation for the London club would be to sign a reliable and proven first-choice goalkeeper, it is a tough transfer to achieve.
Alternatively, for Millwall, they could go down the route of signing two goalkeepers who are coveted but inexperienced, such as Radek Vitek, and hoping that one of the two would impress.
There is the chance that Jensen returns from injury earlier in the season than expected, but it is hard to judge whether he’ll be as consistent as he was for Millwall last season.
With all these factors and possibilities at hand, the signing of Vitek could prove difficult, as there is no guarantee that Millwall will use him as the starting goalkeeper regularly throughout the 2025/26 season.
Tim Krul also on Millwall’s radar
Millwall is considering other options, with Tim Krul being high on that list following his departure as a free agent from Luton. Krul is now 37, but is not keen to retire from football just yet, despite currently being without a club.
During his time at Luton, Krul made only six appearances, none of which were in the league. In fact, Krul has not played a league match since the 2022/23 season, where he made 16 appearances for Norwich City in the Championship.
The lack of recent league appearances will be a concern for Millwall, for a similar yet polarising reason to Radek Vitek – if they were to sign him.
With few recent appearances for Krul, it might come as a surprise that the Dutchman has had very few injuries in the latter stages of his career. However, declining performances and fitness levels have relegated him to usually being a backup choice, regardless of his hugely impressive resume.
Throughout Krul’s career, he has made 437 appearances, most of which have come in the Premier League for Newcastle United and Norwich City, and was a full Netherlands international, making 15 appearances. Perhaps most notably for Millwall will be that Tim Krul has achieved promotion from the Championship, with Norwich, twice in the last seven seasons, and once with Newcastle in 2010.
The signing of both Tim Krul and Radek Vitek could make sense, offering a young goalkeeper the chance to play first-team football with an experienced goalkeeper to provide solid backup and mentorship. Along with Lukas Jensen upon his return, the pair would form a dependable and reliable trio of goalkeepers, providing a solid foundation for Millwall’s defence.