Should we sell Scott Carson?

Pepe Reina is only 25 years old. Barring major injury, the two-time defending EPL Gold Glove award winner has at least five to seven years of quality play left in him. He has alluded at times of returning to Spain though, more specifically Atlético Madrid where his father became a legend, but I can't see him going anywhere in the near future. He is our number one for now.

Before yesterday, I wasn't all that impressed with Charles Itandje, but now I see why Manchester United and other big clubs have been after him in the past. The 24-year-old Frenchman may have over-played some balls, was rightly beat once, but also made some stunning saves. I'm not sure how long he'll be around, but for now, I think if he ever had to step in for Reina, he'd do fine.

Following Itandje in the pecking in order is David Martin, the Reserves number one. The 21-year-old son of former West Ham player, Alvin Martin, saw action with the first team on three different occasions in the preseason. In my best judgment, he seemed to have the qualities to make a solid Premiership keeper, though signs of his youth and inexperience showed at moments.

Though he probably won't play for us for a few years, if ever, next we have 17-year-old Danish prospect Martin Hansen, who's been at the Academy since the beginning of last year. And just for good measure there's out-on-loan Nikolay Mihaylov and Australia wonder kid goalie, Dean Bouzanis, who is the current top keep at the Academy .

In other words, we're loaded at that spot for years to come without Carson. Rafa seemingly likes to collect keepers like the old woman in the shoe likes to collect kids. In all we have seven keepers if you count the Academy and nine if you include Carson and Mihaylov. That's just ridiculous. Is Benitez collecting and cultivating keepers as part of some master plan to keep loaning them out to other Premiership sides, so they'll be without their top goalie when they face us? If so, it's brilliant, but highly doubtful.

Carson is quite the talent though. Just this past summer numerous clubs including Arsenal inquired about his services. I have no problem saying he would be our starter if we didn't have Pepe. The thing is, we do, and there's only one keeper in the world I would even consider starting in front of Reina and that's Peter Cech. In other words, if Carson wants to be the regular starter, he's going to have to be perpetually loaned or sold and though I'm for either of those options, the latter looks to be the most realistic.

Price might become an issue though. If Craig Gordon is worth £9m, Carson can't be too far off. If I were Rafa I wouldn't accept anything less than £8m. If a club doesn't want to pay that much so be it, we got £2m for him from Aston Villa for his one-year loan there and we can just continue to lease him until someone feels like taking out a mortgage. The only thing is, if we can sell him this summer, than we can turn around and use that money to strengthen our squad.