Rumours of outgoings at Newcastle United seem to be heating up as the winter transfer window enters its closing stages.
Miguel Almiron is close to a return to the MLS after talks initially stalled with himself and Charlotte FC, the Paraguayan is in the final stages of discussions with his former side Atalanta United.
Lloyd Kelly has been linked with a shock switch to Turin giants Juventus after a short spell on Tyneside and Newcastle now been approached with a bid for a fourth player after Martin Dubravka’s move was stalled until at least the summer.
Newcastle receive second bid from Saudi club
Saudi Arabian club Al-Shabab have moved on from their interest in Martin Dubravka and switched their attention to Odysseas Vlachodimos, it seems.
Fabrizio Romano reports that the Saudi Pro League side have come forward with a ‘formal bid’ for the Greek international, but the former Benfica star has ‘turned down’ their offer.
Instead, Romano states that the goalkeeper prefers to stay in Europe over landing a potentially lucrative contract over in the Middle East.
Vlachodimos was part of a PSR-driven deal with Nottingham Forest that saw Elliot Anderson go the other way last summer. Since then, Anderson has shone in an incredible season so far, while the 30-year-old has gathered just 45 minutes of football in a Carabao Cup clash with Wimbledon.
Vlachodimos likely to leave now Dubravka is staying?
Dubravka may well have completed his move to Saudi Arabia if not for the injury of Nick Pope opening the door to the first team for the Slovakian, who had already began packing his boxes for a move, reports Craig Hope.
There is a serious butterfly effect at play with this one. If Pope doesn’t get injured, then Dubravka leaves and Vlachodimos becomes No. 2. Or, Dubravka finalises an agreement with a move away, then Pope gets injured and Vlachodimos becomes temporary No. 1.
The matter of fact is the timing of Pope’s injury, which may be healed for this Saturday’s clash with Southampton, allowed for Dubravka to reignite his Newcastle career and potentially even be considered first choice between the sticks – though the goalposts may have moved after the shaky defensive display against Bournemouth.
One thing that remains clear is that both remain ahead of third choice Vlachodimos in the pecking order, meaning it could be the Greek who ends up leaving this winter now Dubravka looks set to stay until the end of the season.
What a nightmare the Vlachodimos situation is. It seems he’d rather sit on our bench (if he even manages that) than go and play in Saudi. We’re not going to get a penny back on him, the fact that Forest got a £13m profit out of us while paying just £15m for a quality youngster shows how desperate we wereq. Let’s hope Vlachodimos is on a very short contract and won’t be hanging around for long, but somehow I very much doubt it. While I appreciate it wasn’t exactly a choice, this is 100% the worst signing the club has ever made.
Ian(Quote)
I mean it was a terrible deal and we had little option, but I still think worst ever transfer must go to someone like Stephan Guivarch surely.
You feel that Vlachodimos could do a job at least on the pitch, Guivarch was a player that made the team worse by being on the pitch, like I would have rather played with 10 men lol.
john mc(Quote)
Xisco worst signing by a mile.We overpaid for him and put him on a lucrative 5 year contract.He won a Northumberland Senior Cup winner’s medal!
Stephen Dunn(Quote)