We’ve added to our ranks again this week with the arrival of Albanian international goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha. The 27-year-old made his name with Lazio and his national team, but here's some things you might not know about our new shotstopper.

Born in Athens, Greece, football runs through the Strakosha family. Thomas’s father, Foto, played 73 times for Albania between 1990 and 2004 and was, at the time of his retirement, Albania’s most capped player. Thomas’s brother, Dhimitri, also played professionally in the Albanian second and third tier.

After a year with the youth team at Athens-based amateur club Panionios, Thomas was signed by Italian giants Lazio in the summer of 2012.

Thomas’ first two seasons with Lazio brought three trophies. He won the Campionato Primavera for Under-19s in June 2013 before winning the Coppa Italia Primavera the following year. He also picked up a senior Coppa Italia medal, having been named in the squad as Lazio beat city rivals Roma 1-0

Thomas lost just four of his 41 games for Lazio’s Under-19s and was selected in the 2012/13 Primavera Team of the Season.

Following a spell with Serie B side Salernitana during the 2015/16 campaign, Strakosha made his Lazio debut in September 2016, starting against Milan at the age of 21 and 185 days.

He kept his first Serie A clean sheet against Empoli five days later, leading 1982 FIFA World Cup-winner Dino Zoff to say: "I can not judge him with only two matches played, but, according to me, he performed well in both matches."

Beginning in February 2017, Thomas played 143 of Lazio’s next 147 domestic matches. During that time, he kept 39 clean sheets and reached two Coppa Italia finals. After defeat to Juventus in the 2017 final, Thomas won his second Coppa Italia two years later, keeping a clean sheet in victory over Atalanta in the final.

He also won two Supercoppa Italia’s during that time, both against Juventus, and was also named the best young goalkeeper in Serie A for 2017/18.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Thomas became an Albanian international in March 2017, facing Italy in a World Cup Qualifier. His debut was memorable for coming on the night that his opposite number Gianluigi Buffon, made his 1000th career appearance. Since then, he’s added 18 more caps to his tally, keeping eight clean sheets.

By the time, Thomas left Lazio in the summer he had played 208 games for them, keeping 62 clean sheets, and winning six major trophies.  

Thomas is our first-ever Albanian player and is set to become the 46th different nationality to play a competitive league match for us.