Is Benjamin Lecomte an upgrade on Steven Benda?
Jack Stroudley takes a look at Fulham's potential first signing of the summer.
Forget stumbling out of the blocks, Fulham have yet to even find them, with little-to-no credible rumours and no incomings ahead of the Premier League kicking-off in just over three weeks.
Fear not though, as light is dimly appearing at the end of the tunnel. Fulham are finally looking to sign their first player of the 2025/26 Premier League season. Benjamin Lecomte looks to be that man, the 34-year-old keeper is set to join from Ligue 2 side Montpellier for a reported £500,000.
It’s hardly earth-shattering stuff, but it was reported earlier this summer that Fulham were targeting a back-up keeper alongside a striker, winger and midfielder so this seems to be a position Silva is keen to get sorted. Steven Benda’s time at the club appears to be on halt for now as a loan move to Millwall is reportedly close to completion. But is Lecomte an upgrade and do we really need him?
A season to forget
I’d like to preface this by saying that the former Atletico Madrid and Monaco keeper had a storming few years prior to 2024/25, saving 74 out of 96 shots during the 2022/23 campaign put him in the top 4% for keepers while also keeping an impressive eight clean sheets during his 20 appearances for a Montpellier side, which had an average-at-best campaign finishing in 12th.
His 2023/24 season was impressive too; as well outperforming his xG by 2.8 (a number that was 7.5 the year prior), but it all seemed to come crashing down last term. Montpellier had a catastrophic year in Ligue 1, picking up just 16 points and finishing bottom, a comfortable 18 points adrift from 15th-placed Le Havre FC and Lecomte unfortunately was a part of the car crash in the south of France.
Lecomte went from outperforming his xG by 7.5 to under-performing by 5.7 - a swing of 13.2 in just two years. He was a much busier ‘keeper last season facing 177 shots compared to the 96 in that magnificent 2022/23 campaign, which resulted in just one clean sheet and an average of 2.28 goals conceded per game. But was he to blame? Manager at the time Jean-Louis Gasset described it as a sinking ship while club president Lucas Nicollin turned on the players, it’s not the healthiest environment for a goalkeeper to be in.
Is this an upgrade?
Let’s make one thing clear: Lecomte isn’t coming in to replace Bernd Leno. The German keeper is a mainstay in this Fulham side and Silva understandably rates him very highly, but how does Frenchman compare?
I thought it would be fairer to compare Lecomte to Leno during a season that wasn’t described as a sinking ship by his manager! What’s interesting from this is that the two appear to have different strengths. Lecomte appears to have had a slightly stronger season in the air whereas Leno is a lot stronger with the ball at his feet, something you’d imagine is crucial to Marco Silva.
Leno’s save percentage was also worse than Lecomte’s (73% compared to the German’s 67%), but I should caveat this with the fact Lecomte played fewer games and therefore faced fewer shots. It’s obvious that Leno is a better ‘keeper so Lecomte will come in as second-choice and likely feature in the early rounds of cup competitions - but is it necessary?
Steven Benda obviously hasn’t worked out, but is there anyone in the academy who can fill this role? The most likely to fill that gap is American goalkeeper Alex Borto, who was third-choice for the duration of last season learning from Leno and Benda. The 21-year-old’s only features for Fulham have come in the Vertu Trophy playing against Portsmouth, Leyton Orient, Shrewsbury Town and Birmingham City but is yet to make an appearance for Fulham’s first team.
Borto signed a long-term contract back in 2022 which is valid until 2027 so will be keen to try and make a claim for himself this season with fears his career may stagnate by rotting as Silva’s third-choice. Is he ready yet though? I don’t think so.
Yes or no?
This is hardly one to get fans out of their seats, but I think this is a smart piece of business from Fulham. Steven Benda hasn’t impressed during his time at the club, we don’t have anyone in the academy who is ready-made to be the number two so the logical options are either a young player who can replace Leno in a few years or an experienced and dependable head and Lecomte is 100% the latter.
Brushing last season under the carpet, The Frenchman has an impressive resumé and the fact we’re able to get someone liek that in as a back-up shows how far we’ve come under Silva. £500,000 is a good fee for the club and while it’s not the most thrilling it’s steady and sensible. Exactly what you want a back-up ‘keeper to be.