Newcastle United closing in on agreement after first-team star ruled out for six weeks

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Newcastle United goalkeeper Nick Pope is closing in on a return from injury after six weeks on the sidelines.

Pope hasn’t featured for Newcastle since the 4-2 defeat at Brentford last month, missing the last nine matches due to a knee ligament injury. Martin Dubravka has stepped up in goal in Pope’s absence with The Magpies’ form turning around significantly with a perfect run of results.

Dubravka has a deal on the table to leave Newcastle and join Al-Shabab in the Saudi Pro League this month but Newcastle and head coach Eddie Howe want the 36-year-old to stay. The club are understood to be closing in on an agreement that will see the Slovakian stay at least until the end of the season with his contract up in the summer.

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But Pope’s return puts Dubravka’s place in the starting line-up under significant threat.

Pope has been Newcastle’s first-choice goalkeeper since he arrived from Burnley in 2022 with only injury and suspension seeing Dubravka called into action in the Premier League.

Providing an update on Pope’s fitness, Howe said: “He’s not far away. He is doing well. He hasn’t trained with the group yet, that’s mainly because we haven’t had a huge amount of training days because of the amount of games we have played.

“He has done goalkeeper training one-on-one with the coaches. He has done diving, and kicking, he has done the lot. I just think there’s a bit longer needed before his knee is fully strong enough to play.

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“We are not looking too far away. I think probably after this intense run of games.”

Newcastle host Howe’s former club AFC Bournemouth at St James’ Park on Saturday (12:30pm kick-off). The game marks exactly six weeks since Pope’s initial injury, which was the initial timeframe given for his return.

But when asked if Pope was still Newcastle’s first-choice goalkeeper, Howe responded: “I’m not going to answer that and you’ll understand that.

“Although everyone outside would perceive there's a number and a ranking. When you’re in my position and this goes for all the players, it’s always in a state of flux.

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“It’s always changing and moving because that’s down to the player’s performances. They will always make you change your mind and they will always give you for for thought because you want players to push each other, to question your decisions, not to yourself but in your mind.

“I think that will be the case with this, let’s wait and see.”

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