Eddie Howe has suggested that Newcastle United stopper Freddie Woodman could be loaned out in January, while Matty Longstaff’s may yet return early from his stint at Aberdeen.
Woodman looked set to join Bournemouth on a season-long loan over the summer, however that move was blocked after Martin Dubravka’s foot injury was soon followed by Karl Darlow being struck down with Covid.
With both our senior goalkeepers now fit again and back ahead of Freddie in the pecking order, it seems Howe is eager to send the former England U21 star out on loan to make sure his development isn’t harmed by a lack of game time.
On the subject of game time, forgotten man Matty Longstaff is struggling for exactly that out in Scotland, having started just one of Aberdeen’s last nine games in the SPL.
Howe admitted in his press conference this morning that he’d be keen to have a conversation with the 21-year-old to hear his thoughts about a possible return to Tyneside.
Howe on Woodman:
“In terms of the goalkeepers we have got a really talented group of keepers.
“It was unfortunate that both the experienced goalkeepers were injured.
“And it probably meant that opportunities for one of the younger guys to go on loan was then potentially stopped.
“That is something we will evaluate in January because we don’t want to harm anyone’s development.”
Howe on Longstaff:
“Matty Longstaff’s situation, yes I’m aware of,”
“I would encourage a conversation between Matty just to see what his thought processes are and we’ll re-evaluate that one closer to January.”
