Newcastle United have already found £26m replacement for 'fantastic' star who is set to leave in 2027
Newcastle United goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek has opened up about his start to life in the Premier League and working with Nick Pope.
Lukas Hornicek has spoken out about replacing Nick Pope as Newcastle United’s first-choice goalkeeper this season.
Pope had spent four seasons as United’s No. 1 but is yet to feature for the club this season following Hornicek’s £26million club-record goalkeeper transfer from Braga.
As reported by the Gazette, Pope was available to leave Newcastle over the summer with his contract at St James’ Park set to expire next year. But a suitable offer was not forthcoming during the transfer window as Pope remained on Tyneside as a back-up option.
We have launched a new NUFC YouTube channel to bring you the latest Newcastle United news and analysis. Click this link and subscribe to NUFC Press Box.
The Gazette has launched a WhatsApp NUFC channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates directly to your phone. Simply click this link to join our NUFC WhatsApp channel.
20-year-old Ewen Jaouen also bolstered Newcastle’s goalkeeping options in the summer, having joined from Stade de Reims for £18million at the start of the window. After featuring in the 3-2 Carabao Cup win against West Bromwich Albion back in August, Jaouen has struggled with injuries and has since been replaced by Pope on the bench.
Given Pope’s age and Premier League experience, joining Newcastle as a young goalkeeper unproven in the Premier League was sure to be a challenge for Hornicek to make that No. 1 spot his own.
But so far the Czechia international has stood up to the challenge, putting in a player-of-the-match performance last time out at Fulham.
Reflecting on his first few months at the club, Hornicek said: “From the beginning, you see such a big desire from the lads, from the trainers, everyone who's involved in Newcastle, which helped me a lot.
“When everybody's working 100%, and I'm involved, I'm getting used to it much better.
“[The Premier League] is the best league in the world. You can see that everybody's much stronger, much faster. The game is more fluent, much faster also. You need to do your best to make yourself used to that, which I hope I've done well.”
Lukas Hornicek opens up about Nick Pope relationship
Despite falling down the pecking order at Newcastle and being made available for transfer, Pope has been praised by head coach Matthias Jaissle and now his goalkeeping teammate for his professionalism during a difficult period on a personal level.
Speaking to the Gazette in the summer, Hornicek said he had arrived to be the starting goalkeeper at Newcastle. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t ‘a little bit worried’ about displacing Pope.
“He's fantastic since I came in,” Hornicek said about Pope. “He's been supporting me. I was a little bit worried because he used to be number one, and there could have been a little bit of hostility from his side, but he’s 100% positive, he’s helping me, and he’s such a nice lad along with Mark [Gillespie] and Ewen and Aidan [Harris].”
Barring any injuries or suspensions, Hornicek is set to remain in goal for Newcastle moving forward. Meanwhile, Jaouen will be working on his recovery from a hamstring injury and Pope will look ahead to assessing his options in January as he heads into the final six months of his contract at St James’ Park.
From January, Pope will be able to agree a pre-contract deal with clubs abroad or leave Newcastle for a cut-price fee before he becomes a free agent next summer.