Newcastle United goalkeeping coach Simon Smith has heaped praise on Martin Dubravka, comparing him to Alisson Becker and Kepa Arrizabalaga.
The Slovakian has come in for criticism in recently after a couple of high profile errors that have cost the Magpies points, but was given the North East Writers Association Player of the Year award this week.
Speaking to the Chronicle, Smith was eager to praise his number one.
He said: “He has played so well, and the expectation levels have gone up so much for him.
“No disrespect to Martin, but we paid €6million for him. You look at Liverpool, they paid over €60million for their goalkeeper Allison and Chelsea paid around €76m for their keeper.
“Martin has shown that he is probably in the top six most consistent goalkeepers in the league and I think that is why there has been that attention on him.”
OPINION
Dubravka is a top quality goalkeeper, and couple of mistakes, no matter how costly, will not detract from that. The best thing that the club can do, however is to give him a vocal show of support, and Smith will have done wonders for his nerves by mentioning him in the same breath as the two most expensive goalkeepers of all time. Dubravka himself will know that he hasn’t been good enough in recent weeks, but will be more eager than anybody to amend that and will surely be working on his flaws in training. He can take comfort form knowing that mistakes aside, he has barley let the general standard of his game drop, and without him, lord only knows where Newcastle would be this campaign. A warm weather brea and some time to iron out some of the creases in his game is probably just what the doctor ordered, and Toon fans will be hoping he’s back to his best against Huddersfield Town on Saturday.