Newcastle United is continuing to shake all parts of its team, with competition being one of the biggest criteria, and we mean competition for every single position in the squad. And while there are other parts of the team which would still need a player or two, like defense, a winger or a striker, the goalkeeping position was one of rare areas of strength for Magpies. Slovakian international Martin Dubravka was (until now) an undisputed leader at Newcastle’s goal. But from today, he got a good rival – Nick Pope signed a long time contract with the Magpies and will look for that place between the sticks.🧤🧤 pic.twitter.com/lHN3sDsRwy— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) June 23, 2022 England international was one of the best players in the relegated Burnley team last season, and the move to the Championship was not an option for him, at least not when the World Cup is so near. So, he asked to be sold and Burnley decided not to stand in his way, especially since he has only one year on his deal. Newcastle came in and secured a four year deal, with a clause for another year, for Burnley’s keeper, who passed his medical and signed his contract today at St. James Park.Nice work if Kepa can get itPope will have a tough task of challenging Dubravka, who has been a number 1 keeper since he arrived to Newcastle in 2018. This move is a good one for the Magpies, whose defense has been the problem last season (goal difference -18), but it did raise some eyebrows, since the current number 2 Karl Darlow is also considered a good goalie, which he confirmed every time he was called into action. Newcastle also have the fourth goalkeeper Mark Gilespie, while the talented Freddie Woodman was sold to Preston just days ago.FRI: 03.30: (3.30) CSA (2.85) GREMIO (2.42)Newcastle paid 14 million euros for Pope, which is a small part of their summer budget, believed to be around 100 million euros. 17 million was already spent for Matt Taggart from Aston Villa, who impressed while on loan and was sign permanently. The Magpies don’t have such a big budget, considering they are the world’s richest club, and apart from a left back and a goalkeeper, they still have three priorities and 60 million euros to do it: a winger, a central back and a striker. They are still waiting for Lille to allow them to talk to Sven Botman, while Hugo Ekitike deal is not looking good, since the strikers representatives are still coming up with new numbers, while they continue to offer their client to bigger clubs, hoping for bigger commission.“Now I’m here, I can’t wait to get started. The deal has taken a couple of weeks to come to fruition but it got over the line really quickly, and I’m delighted to be here and I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into it” said Pope in his first statement as Newcastle player.
