Newcastle United have two routes to go down with our goalkeeper situation this summer, and The Athletic mentioned something similar in their in-depth transfer piece this week.
The first option is to go big for Giorgi Mamardashvili; the Valencia stopper who will cost £35m minimum, which was always going to be the case. He’s already a very good GK, with top potential – and deserves to be playing every week.
It’ll be a huge move for the club – he would probably become the 4th most expensive GK of all time – and it would sort our No 1 spot for years. He’s still not perfect – he’s not particularly composed with the ball – but he’s a phenomenal shot-stopper and sweeper.
However, it’d also potentially mean that Nick Pope – currently in his prime – moves away from Newcastle, and I don’t think he’d want to be 2nd choice even despite his dodgy shoulder.
The two moves would spell a big change in our goalkeeping department, which is always a risk. That consistency and trust with your backline would need rebuilding, and that isn’t easy to do quickly. It takes time, and efforts both on and off the pitch.
Goalkeepers are the organisers, leaders, and communicators of the team – and when a backline doesn’t trust a GK, it makes a huge difference. We saw it with Sels in 2016, and we saw it with Dubravka this season.
The second option is to go for a slightly younger and cheaper goalkeeper, for roughly half the price of Mamardashvili (£15-20m). Let this GK develop on the training ground, in cup matches, and let them compete with Pope. Hopefully by next season or the season after, they’ll be in a position to take over.
The name mentioned is Burnley’s James Trafford, with reports suggesting we are preparing a bid for the England U21 talent. This makes loads of sense to me. He had a poor season, but he’s *so* young. Very few GKs play in the Premier League at 21. He’s got bags of potential, has a wonderfully rounded skillset, and is only…
Source link : https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2024/06/04/newcastle-faced-with-two-transfer-routes-as-goalkeeper-search-takes-another-turn/
Author : Sanjay
Publish date : 2024-06-04 18:35:17
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