Newcastle United 'legend' set to return to St James' Park - £20m replacement deal lined-up
Newcastle United host Burnley in the Premier League at St James’ Park on Saturday afternoon - with Martin Dubravka coming up against his former club.
Martin Dubrakva will make his return to Newcastle United with Burnley in the Premier League this weekend following his summer move.
The 36-year-old joined Burnley for an undisclosed fee after playing a key role in Newcastle’s Carabao Cup success and Champions League qualification last season. The Slovakian came into the Newcastle side last December and helped the side claim nine successive wins to climb from midtable in the Premier League into the European places while also progressing to the Carabao Cup final.
Nick Pope then came into the side after returning to fitness and saw Newcastle over the line in terms of securing the cup win and a fifth-place finish.
Dubravka made 179 appearances for Newcastle between 2018 and 2025 before joining Burnley in the summer to secure regular first-team football. While Burnley sit second bottom of the Premier League table after 14 matches, Dubravka has already made an impression at Turf Moor and has made the most saves of any goalkeeper in the division so far this season.
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Eddie Howe on Martin Dubravka’s return to NUFC
Dubravka signed a new contract at Newcastle at the start of the year after a good run of form in Pope’s absence before leaving the club months later.
Newcastle then signed Aaron Ramsdale on loan from Southampton as Dubravka’s replacement in the squad. Newcastle have an option to buy clause worth around £20million that can be triggered at the end of the season.
The 27-year-old is set to face Burnley on Saturday after breaking into the line-up in Pope’s absence.
Looking ahead to Dubravka’s return, Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe spoke very highly of a player he regards as a ‘legend’ of the club.
“He’s an unbelievable professional and a very good goalkeeper,” Howe said. “Long before I came to the club, he etched his name into legend status here for what he did for such a long period of time, and how dependable and reliable he was for the football club, in difficult moments.
“He comes back, and I’m sure he’ll get a warm welcome from all the supporters. I probably won’t get to see him because that’s just the nature of my job, but I think he deserves a warm welcome.
“But, of course, when it comes to the game, we have to hope he has a busy afternoon.”
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Eddie Howe on Aaron Ramsdale
With Pope out injured for the next few matches, Ramsdale is set to the opportunity Dubravka was given in each of his final two seasons at Newcastle.
On both occasions, Dubravka ultimately dropped back out of the side with Pope returning. Now Ramsdale will be looking to use this opportunity to secure his place in Newcastle’s line-up.
"Slightly unknown at the moment,” Howe said on Pope’s return from a groin issue. “Not a serious injury, not a long-term one, but enough to keep him out for probably the next two to three weeks.
"Probably looking around Christmas time again for him. We've got a sort of a glut of players looking at that around Christmas return. If we can shave a bit of time off that and he can come back early, then great. But that's the plan at the moment.
“I think [Ramsdale] has done well. It's always very difficult to come straight into the team, especially in such a pivotal position.
“But Everton, I thought he did very, very well. Tottenham, I thought he did well. Again, commanded his box well, distributed the ball well. Didn't really have a lot to do.