Mick Quinn has raved about Newcastle United goalkeeper Martin Dubravka, naming him as their best player of 2018 and their best signing of the year as well.
The Slovakia international arrived at the club on an initial loan deal in January from Sparta Prague before a permanent agreement was reached in the summer for around £4million.
Dubravka has gone on to impress between the sticks for the Magpies, and Quinn has now drooled over the 6’3″ ace [Transfermarkt] for his impact on Tyneside in 2018.
In a column for the Chronicle, he said: “I like the way he organises and communicates, he’s been a brilliant signing. He’s a brilliant reactionary shot-stopper, he’s like a comfort blanket in goal – you know what you’re going to get. He’s a leader too.
“There’s that old saying about the spine of the team, Dubravka is in that, and if you’ve got that spine, you’ve got something decent to build on. He’s turned the team around with his presence, and class.
“You can quite easily pay £25m or £30m for a goalkeeper, who wouldn’t have had the class of Dubravka. They are very few and far between, that is why you have to praise the recruitment team – you have to do your homework, and if you do it right, and you’ve got the right people around you, these gems can be found.”
OPINION
It is no surprise to see Dubravka feature highly in Quinn’s review of the year at Newcastle, with the Slovakia international clearly being one of the club’s standout players throughout the second half of last season and the first half of this campaign. The 29-year-old showed his class instantly when arriving on loan in January and has rarely put a foot wrong on the way to becoming the club’s undisputed number one. As Quinn points out, the fact that Newcastle managed to snap up a goalkeeper of such high quality for just £4million is pretty ludicrous, especially considering the kinds of price which stoppers are going for these days. His praise for the recruitment team is therefore justified, and hopefully they can continue to make signings like this in the future. That will be crucial for Newcastle in the upcoming January window, which is set to be pivotal for the rest of the seaeson.