Newcastle United new-boy Martin Dubravka has given fans an interesting insight into his style of play during his first interview as an NUFC player, revealing how he ‘loves to play football’ – suggesting he could be the ball playing keeper Rafa has been after.
The 29-year-old arrived on deadline day from Sparta Prague on an initial loan deal until the end of the season – and the Chronicle have since revealed that Newcastle have an option to make his move permanent for £4m in the summer.
The Slovakian international has admitted to being desperate to impress in a bid to earn a permanent move, with him explaining how his ball-playing skills could help him achieve that and aid our bid for Premier League survival:
Here’s what he said when describing his goalkeeping style to NUFC TV:
“It’s hard to describe myself. I don’t know – other than I’d say I like to play football, that’s what I like,”
“I like to be active on the pitch and help out the players when they are in a critical situation. I try to play with my feet, to get off my line and help with the talking.
Whilst I would hope he doesn’t try anything stupid and over do it (see 0:25 of the clip below!), it is positive to hear that we may now have a goalkeeper on our hands who’s capable of playing out from the back.
Cat-like reflexes & can play out from the back, but Christ..nearly **** myself at 0:25 ? #NUFC
— Black&WhiteBarmy (@BlackWhiteBarmy) January 31, 2018
He looks to have great reflexes and appears slightly more agile than our current options. The risky piece of play with the ball is a slight concern in the above clip, but one of Elliot and Darlow’s biggest flaws is undoubtedly their inability to kick consistently and play out from the back with confidence and skill. Based on this clip and what he says, he doesn’t seem to lack any confidence as a footballer!
Here’s the rest of Dubravka’s quotes in the interview, where he discusses his readiness to fight, the energy around NUFC and what he made of his first trip to St James’ Park in the stands against Burnley:
“I will try to do my best. I am coming to a big team and a big club. At these big clubs, you will always have competition,”
“Never will you 100 per cent know you will stay No 1. Always you will have to fight for it.
“You have to show the people around the club that you deserve to take your chance.
“I will try to adapt to the English game as fast as possible and help the team, because that is the most important thing, then I will work hard, train hard – and show that I deserve to be here.
“You can feel the energy of the people around the club, and when I came to the stadium, the first feeling was amazing – you could just see 50,000 are screaming and making noise.
“When I played in Slovakia, there are not many times you can feel this energy. When I was in Sparta Prague, at the beginning it was very similar – but here it’s much more people.
“When I came to have a seat in the stadium [during the Burnley game], in one moment it became very noisy. So for me, I thought: ‘This is what I really like. I can get used to this, for sure.’”
Here’s hoping he turns out better than Rafa’s last incoming keeper – Matz Sels!
