Newcastle United issue official response after offer made for £20m star

It comes after the 30-year-old goalkeeper turned down the opportunity to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Shabab. Al-Shabab previously had a move lined up to sign Martin Dubravka this month, but it was blocked by Newcastle.

Vlachodimos joined Newcastle for £20million from Nottingham Forest last summer in a deal closely linked to Elliot Anderson’s £35million move in the opposite direction as part of a last-minute PSR scramble. But the Greek international has been limited to just one Carabao Cup substitute appearance since his arrival.

Vlachodimos boasts a wealth of experience having made over 200 appearances for Benfica, playing regular Champions League football and winning two league titles. But now he finds himself behind Nick Pope and Dubravka in the goalkeeper pecking order at Newcastle and is unlikely to feature unless in an emergency.

He was limited to just seven appearances during his only season at Forest before being sold on at a profit to Newcastle.

Transfer expert Fabrizo Romano posted earlier this week that Vlachodimos turned down the chance of regular first-team football at Al-Shabab.

Romano posted on X: “Newcastle GK Odysseas Vlachodimos has turned down formal bid from Al-Shabab FC. His preference is to stay in Europe.”

And when questioned about the interest, Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe, while not naming Vlachodimos explicitly, wouldn’t rule out exits for players on the fringes of the first-team.

“I'm not ruling anything out in terms of players leaving, but certainly not our core established players in the team,” Howe said. “There might be movement in certain other players.”

On Vlachodimos, Howe said previously: “He's been excellent behind the scenes. He's a really, lovely lad, a really nice person, he's got a really nice way about him, very smiley, happy.

“But you can see he's driven and he's a vastly experienced goalkeeper, so I think he's added a lot to the training group. He's been actively involved in all the training that we've done and he's become a really well liked member of the team, well-liked member of the goalkeeping team, but also the first team.

“So he's been excellent with his conduct around the building.”