Newcastle must finally sell their “fantastic servant”

Tuesday night provided Newcastle United fans with a result that they will cherish for a very long time.

Goals from Alexander Isak and then Anthony Gordon either side of half time saw the Magpies win Arsenal 2-0 in North London in the first leg EFL Cup semi-final.

The 6,000 Geordies who occupied the Clock End closed the night by singing their own unique rendition of “Que Sera, Sera” and, although they have yet to confirm their place at Wembley, as he noted Tom Ede on Twitterof the previous 31 teams that have won the first leg of a League Cup semi-final away from home, 29 have reached the final, suggesting they have a good chance.

It was a particularly emotional night for one Newcastle player, considering it may have been his 171st and final appearance for the club.

The Newcastle star is on his way out

As reported Fabrizio Romano on TwitterNewcastle have “in principle” agreed on the sale of Martin Dúbravka Saudi professional league side of Al-Shabab.

The White Lions are currently sixth in the Saudi Arabian Premier League and lead them Turkish legend Fatih Terim, doc their team has familiar faces such as Yannick Carrasco, Giacomo Bonaventura, Wesley Hoedt used to be Southampton and ex Wolves wing Daniel Podence.

As he noted Simo Frigolé on TwitterAl-Shabab’s first-choice goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu tore his ACL for the second time in less than a year, doing so during the recent victory over Al-Orobahtherefore they are on the market this month.

Martin Hardy of the Times hails Dúbravaka as a “fantastic servant” to Newcastle, reporting that the Magpies will receive around £4.5m for his signature if the deal is finalised.

When the Slovakian shooter arrived in the northeast from Sparta Prague for £4.3m in January 2018he had an immediate impact, a key figure as they avoided relegation.

In 2019/20 was appointed Newcastle United Player of the Year and has been a fan favorite since day one.

With the Toon Army on the doorstep of Wembley, Dúbravka seem destined never to play in a League Cup final, having played in the 2023 cup final. two matches on loan for opponents Manchester United earlier in the competition, meaning, uniquely, despite the fact that his team lost that day, he won a victory medal.

Now, he looks set to leave before the Magpies are sure to face one of their own Liverpool or Tottenham in the March final.

Why now is the right time for Dúbravka to leave Tyneside

Newcastle are under pressure to sell players to match the Premier League Rules of profit and sustainabilitywith Eddie Howe stating that “business logic takes over football logic… we were forced [sell players in June]… I think we are still in that position”.

Given that Dúbravka is 35 years old, and the contract expires in Junehe is an obvious player to make money on.

What makes the timing awkward is the fact that the Slovak has started every Newcastle match the last seven gamesall victories in which he kept five clean sheets, while Nick Pope was nurtured by a knee ligament problem killed at Brentford.

However, the Magpies actually have five senior goalkeepers on their books.

Odysseas Vlachodimos, who has only seen 45 minutes of action so far, arrived from Nottingham Forest for £20 millionand Elliot Anderson goes the other way for £30 millionwhile both clubs avoided PSR violations.

They also have senior goalkeepers Mark Gillespie and John Ruddy, in case of emergency, but Vlachodimos, who Chris Waugh and George Caulkin from Athletic described as “the £20m goalkeeper they didn’t want”, he would be an obvious replacement for Pope, but how does the Greek number one compare to Dúbravka?

As stated in the data above, since the start of the 2022/23 season, Dúbravka has been a more reliable goalkeeper than Vlachodimos, despite the fact that the Greek goalkeeper spent the first of these campaigns with Benfica, winning the Primeira Liga title.

However, Vlachodimos is not so significantly worse that Dúbravka would be a big loss.

After all, we’re only talking about who Nick Pope’s reinforcements will be, and with Newcastle seemingly stuck with Vlachodimos, they could use him more than second half of an EFL Cup match against AFC Wimbledon in which he has appeared so far.

It remains to be seen who pulls on the gloves for Sunday’s FA Cup tie against Bromley at St James’ Park.