CORNERS NOW resemble the jostling at a Boxing Day sale. But Manchester United have another goalkeeper who can deal with them.
“It is difficult for goalkeepers but luckily for me, I am 6ft 5in,” Radek Vitek says. “So I can deal with that.
“I like to come for crosses and help my team-mates by claiming them or punching them away from dangerous areas.”
Vitek, 22, is enjoying a fine season-long loan at Bristol City, where he has started in 34 Championship games.
Before our chat, he went viral with a triple-save at Middlesbrough, where Vitek’s near-post run at a corner contributed to City’s 96th-minute equaliser.
Initially signed to provide cover for No1 and Ireland international Max O’Leary, a pre-season injury to O’Leary allowed Vitek to take his place and he has barely looked back.
“It was a difficult task to keep the shirt but in the back of my mind, I always wanted to stay here and play the whole season,” Vitek tells Sun Sport. “That was my goal.
“At this stage in my career, at a young age, I want to play as many games as possible. I wouldn’t benefit from sitting on the bench here, or anything else.”
Vitek will find one of fotball’s most familiar faces at Bristol City’s Robins High Performance Centre taking training this week.
At the age of 78, Roy Hodgson has taken the plunge at the second-tier side after Gerhard Struber was sacked.
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This is Czech talent Vitek’s third loan and United extended his contract to 2028 to coincide with his latest temporary move.
The working approach at United is that any Championship loanee is regarded as genuine first-team potential.
Dean Henderson helped Sheffield United to Premier League promotion in 2019 before he returned to compete with David de Gea the following year.
Vitek, similarly to Henderson, would be reluctant to go back to United just to provide cover for Senne Lammens. He is open to another Championship loan.
“At the moment, I’m focussing on the end of the season and finishing as strong as possible for Bristol City with eight games to play,” he explains.
“I just want to give my best for the club and to build my platform towards next season.
“I will communicate with Man United closely and we will see what’s going to be best for me next season.
“But I want to play football. I don’t want to just be somewhere sitting on the bench.
“I really appreciate the trust [United] are giving me. Obviously, I am going step by step.”
Vitek stresses United have been “really good” in overseeing his development. He is in constant dialogue with Craig Mawson, the club’s goalkeeping coach.
Mawson watches clips of Vitek’s performances and provides feedback from afar.
Vitek was 13 when he left his hometown of Vsetín to join the Sigma Olomuc academy 80 kilometres away.
By the time of his arrival as a 16-year-old at United in the summer of 2020, the world had been turned upside down by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I couldn’t turn down Manchester United at such a young age,” he stresses. “I knew it would be a challenge; new country, new language.
“But if you don’t work for something in life, you can’t achieve much. Looking back, I did the right thing. It builds my personality and character as well.
“You speak about mentality; when you work hard every day towards something, towards the weekend, you feel much better and more confident.
“There have been some difficult times but when you overcome that, it builds you up, you have more confidence and you believe in yourself.
“I have always been a bit of a loner because I moved from my hometown at a really young age to play for Sigma Olumuc, which was over an hour from my home.
“I stayed over the week some days, so I was already used to the travel and being on my own.
“But I have graduated to a different level.
“When I came to Man United first, I wasn’t anywhere near the agility level or movement level where I am now.
“So I have to thank all the academy staff and goalkeeper coaches for what they done with me. I feel like a massive improvement since age 16 to that first loan.
“So one of the best academies in the world helped me in my career.”
As a fellow Czech, Vitek is in awe of Petr Cech: “He was one of the best goalkeepers in the world. He set records in the Premier League, the best league in the world, which says everything really.
“You can look at him as an example from a young age for me.
“I try to look at as many goalkeepers because everyone is good at something different.
“I could say Manuel Neuer, for what he has done in that position over the years.”
Vitek has worked his way up the English football pyramid, having kept goal for Accrington Stanley in League two in 2024.
That preceded a season-long loan with Austrian side Blau-Weiß Linz but Vitek was keen on securing an English loan for this season.
The Championship remains one of the most enthralling leagues in Europe.
“The main difference (with League Two) is the quality of the players are more tactic-wise,” Vitek says.
“I remember in League 2 it was more like a dogfight! You literally go long and everyone was just scrapping for the second balls.
“But here in the Championship, obviously it’s more tactical, every team plays different balls or some more combinations, so you have to adjust.”
Vitek has made the United bench seven times, usually in European games when matchday squads are extended to 23 players.
He has trained with David de Gea, Andre Onana and Tom Heaton, observing how their pre-match preparations differ.
His maiden first-team appearance was a memorable one against Wrexham in San Diego on the 2023 pre-season tour.
United’s starting ‘keeper, Nathan Bishop, was involved in a collision with Wrexham hero Paul Mullin, who suffered a punctured lung.
The Californian Wrexham fans booed Bishop, who was replaced by Vitek at half-time. Vitek was also then booed, with thousands unaware there had been a change in goal.
Vitek shone in a 1-0 defeat to Rosenborg at the start of United’s pre-season schedule in 2024 but the plan was always for him to head out on loan.
His only Old Trafford appearance was in the 2022 FA Youth Cup final against Nottingham Forest. Michael Carrick was invited back by United for the game to recognise his work with their academy talents.
Vitek and Carrick’s paths briefly crossed. “I think I was with him shortly, maybe when Ole (Gunnar Solskjaer) was in the club.
“I went for a few trainings with the first team but it was a long, long time ago!”
Vitek’s career progress is all the more admirable as he committed an error in that final triumph with United 1-0 up.
67,492 supporters – a record crowd in the Youth Cup – watched as Vitek fumbled a daisy-cutter into the Stretford End net. De Gea, sitting in the directors’ box, looked on glumly.
Two team-mates pulled Vitek back to his feet as he resembled a mole attempting to burrow itself into the ground.
It is to Vitek’s immense credit that he has recovered from that public error and is one of three members from that starting XI still at United. The other two are Kobbie Mainoo and Dan Gore.
“Yeah, massive,” Vitek recalls of the mistake. “To overcome some mistakes, it makes you much stronger.
“And I think I proved, season by season or after that moment. Even now this season, I’ve made some mistakes.
“But then when I go to the next game and do well, help the team, then it allows me to grow, personality-wise and self-confidence.”
He can deal with that, too.
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