Dundee United’s star shot-stopper Benji Siegrist is content at Tannadice and happy to let others speculate about his future.
With the opening of the January transfer window now just a few days away, the Swiss goalkeeper, who is under contract until the summer of 2022, is almost certain to be attracting attention.
He was outstanding in the Tangerines’ 1-1 draw against Hibs at Easter Road on Saturday, producing superb save after superb save – including a couple of doubles.
Indeed, you would be hard pushed to recall a United keeper who has performed to such a high standard as Siegrist is currently doing.
He kept the visitors in the match during a torrid first half and, if it were not for him, the Hibees could have been four or five goals up at the interval.
Instead, Micky Mellon’s men clung on and were rewarded with a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser from Luke Bolton that earned what could turn out to be a precious point.
It was almost a shame for Bolton that his last-gasp salvage job was overshadowed by Siegrist’s excellence at the other end of the pitch.
Asked if he was preparing himself for a month of distracting transfer speculation, Siegrist said: “I am really happy and enjoying it.
“That is your (the media’s) job so I will let you worry about that and I will worry about how I can get better as a goalie.
“What I am thinking about is aiming to play at that level again in the next game.”
Goalie TV
To help him do that, Siegrist revealed his rather unorthodox method of tuning into games on TV.
“I don’t like watching football,” he said.
“I just like watching other goalkeepers. I am trying to see what they do well and what they are good at.
“You are trying to find your own style because everyone’s body is different and the football can be different – the Scottish game is different to Germany for example.
“Therefore, I am trying to adapt and see what, for instance, Italian keepers do well and put those things to the coach. Sometimes he says we can do that and sometimes he doesn’t and we do something else.”
“It is all a learning process for me.
“People go ‘oh it’s Man United versus Man City’ but I say ‘no, it’s Ederson versus David de Gea.’ I enjoy watching that.
“Back in the day, people used to watch Zinedine Zidane or Ronaldinho but I watch goalies!
“Whenever there is a big game on I couldn’t care less. I just want to watch keepers.
“I do have the whole match on in the background but nowadays there are platforms and clips that I watch to see what I would have done in any given situation.
“You have to be a student of the game and that means I am not just turning up for training – you have to have some thought behind it.
“That is what my boring self enjoys doing!”