Newcastle United are expected to address several key areas of their squad during the upcoming transfer window, with the goalie rotation a clear priority.
Performances in net have been mediocre to say the least, no matter if they’ve come for the starter-turned-backup or the backup-turned-starter.
Nick Pope has remained part of the lineup at times as the obvious Eddie Howe choice of preference, even after underperforming here and there. The gaffer ultimately gave up and handed on-loan Aaron Ramsdale
the starting role, and although he’s not been bad, he’s not been quite great either.
Not only that, but combining Pope’s age and Ramsdale’s current loan situation and expected departure come June, the Magpies are simply just short of options going forward—remember when the lads had like seven or eight goalies named to their Premier League squad just a few months ago?
The Magpies board, however, seems to be putting in the necessary work to fix that problem and bring a new goalie in, with the club scouting options in the Premier League, the Championship (oh, welp), France’s Ligue 1 and other European leagues, per reports.
Newcastle are expected to make more than one addition in that position as part of a wider reshuffle, but sadly, that won’t be the man linked to the club for the past year and change.
“Newcastle will sign at least one goalkeeper this summer. They know they have to. They want to sign a No 1, as well as perhaps a younger goalkeeper,” Chris Waugh reported in a Q&A for The Athletic. “Whether that will be (Man City’s James) Trafford, I am unsure. Newcastle really like the 23-year-old and tried to sign him for two consecutive summers, with the idea being he would eventually displace Pope.
“Trafford’s wages are likely to prove an issue — his present reported salary would place him among Newcastle’s highest earners. Even so, were he to prove attainable, Newcastle would consider Trafford, as they believe he is capable of being their goalkeeper for a decade or more.”
Newcastle are monitoring options outside of Trafford, because, well, Trafford looks like the biggest transfer that will never happen, more and more each passing day.
It sounds like the club is trying to cut costs in goal, which we’ll see how it turns out once the ball rolls and starts to get into the Magpies net. For now, we can only wait.
