Fabrizio Romano makes Newcastle United transfer blunder as £20m man set for summer move
Newcastle United are facing some big goalkeeping decisions this summer.
Newcastle’s 13-month pursuit of James Trafford is in danger of collapsing with Manchester City now considering a move for the Burnley shot-stopper.
The Magpies currently have six goalkeepers in the first-team squad this pre-season following new deals for Mark Gillespie and John Ruddy. Nick Pope is the current first choice, while Martin Dubravka would be allowed to leave should a new goalkeeper come in.
20-year-old Max Thompson is also with the first team having spent last season on loan at Chesterfield in League Two.
Odysseas Vlachodimos joined Newcastle from Nottingham Forest last summer in a deal worth £20million with Elliot Anderson heading the opposite direction for £35million. Although Vlachodimos is technically Newcastle’s record goalkeeper signing, he is yet to play in the Premier League for the club and has been limited to just 45 minutes of competitive football since his arrival.
The Greek international is unlikely to feature for Newcastle’s first-team this coming season and, regardless of whether the club bring in a goalkeeper or not this transfer window, is available to leave the club on loan.
Why Newcastle United are unlikely to sell Odysseas Vlachodimos?
Newcastle would likely loan Vlachodimos opposed to selling him due to the significant transfer fee they paid for him last summer. Unless they were able to get a significant fee for Vlachodimos, any sale would go down as a significant PSR loss on the books.
As such, a loan exit would be preferred for Vlachodimos this summer. The goalkeeper turned down the opportunity to join Al-Shabab during the January transfer window after Dubravka’s move to the Saudi Pro League fell through.
Instead, Vlachodimos would prefer to stay in Europe and has attracted some interest from Spain.
Fabrizio Romano drops NUFC goalkeeper update with a slight blunder
As previously reported, Real Betis are among the clubs considering a move for Vlachodimos this summer.
And according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, the goalkeeper has turned down another potential move amid more interest from Spain.
Romano tweeted: “Newcastle GK Odysseas Vlachodimos rejected a prospective move to Pumas. Ambitions and family keep him in Europe. Villarreal are amongst teams checking his situation.”
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Real Betis will be competing in the Europa League this coming season while Villarreal, like Newcastle, qualified for the Champions League after finishing fifth in the table.
While Romano’s transfer claim was perfectly fine, many were quick to point out a clear error he had made with his social media post. Instead of accompanying his tweet with an image of Vlachodimos, he used an image of Dubravka.
It certainly helped drive engagement for an otherwise standard transfer update.
Vlachodimos is expected to leave this summer while Newcastle will also green light a move for Dubravka having previously blocked a move for the Slovakian to join Al-Shabab in January. Dubravka’s contract at Newcastle was set to expire in the summer but the club were able to agree a one-year extension until June 2026.