Some surprising news on the goalkeeper front, with the Guardian’s Ed Aarons confirming that Karl Darlow is in talks with the club over a new five and-a-half year deal.
He’s generally played second fiddle to Rob Elliot (when fit) and recently described himself as being ‘incredibly close’ to joining Middlesbrough in a £5m move over the summer, so to hear he’s close to committing his long term future suggests an interesting change of by Benitez.
Karl Darlow is in talks with Newcastle over a new 5-and-a-half year contract #nufc
— Ed Aarons (@ed_aarons) January 9, 2018
#nufc still looking for a new goalkeeper and are also talking to Darlow about a new deal. Woodman could get out on loan providing third choice keeper is signed this window.
— Lee Ryder (@lee_ryder) January 9, 2018
Whilst he showed outstanding form in the 1-0 away win at Stoke on New Years Day, Darlow has often failed to convince when given a chance so far this season. It seems odd that our second choice keeper would commit to such a deal when Benitez is clearly intent on bringing in his own number one.
With this in mind, could this mean the end of Rob Elliot? A few fans seem to think so and they make an interesting point:
Only explanation could be that he's beaten Rob Elliott to the second keeper slot. Rob will be let go, we'll get a medium term number 1 until Woodman is ready.
— ????????? ??⚽ (@HanoiToon) January 9, 2018