Speaking recently on the NUFC Matters YouTube show, Shields Gazette journalist Liam Kennedy provided an injury update on Newcastle United goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.
Since moving to Newcastle from Sparta Prague in January 2018, in what was originally a loan deal that the club then made a £3.6 million permanent move in the following summer, Dubravka has gone on to feature 89 times for the club, conceding 118 goals and keeping 26 clean sheets along the way.
Last season, the £6.75 million-rated 31-year-old featured in all 38 of Newcastle’s Premier League fixtures, conceding 58 goals and keeping 11 clean sheets, averaging a WhoScored match rating of 6.72/10 – ranking him as the club’s joint eighth-best performer in the league.
However, a heel bone injury picked up in August has so far kept the Slovakia international sidelined for Newcastle’s 2020/21 campaign, with Karl Darlow and Mark Gillespie featuring in goal for Steve Bruce’s side in place of Dubravka.
The ‘keeper’s injury was one topic of conversation on a recent NUFC Matters YouTube video, with Kennedy providing an update as to when the goalkeeper could once again feature for the club.
He said: “I would suspect he’ll be knocking on the door by the time that we come back after the international break, but because of Darlow’s form, there isn’t the need to rush him back. If Darlow had been chucking them in left, right and centre and Gillespie had been doing the same, then you might be really pushing Dubravka to be back quicker than what he needs to be, but there isn’t really that need at the moment.
“I think he’ll be knocking on the door by the time [the] Man United [fixture] comes around, and if he’s not back for Man United, it’ll be the one after.”
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TIF Thoughts…
From Kennedy’s comments, it is clear that the journalist is of the belief that Dubravka will be nearing full fitness by the time of the club’s next fixture against Manchester United, and that if he is not back for that match, then he will be for the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers on the following weekend.
As such, it would appear that Newcastle fans will be seeing the club’s first-choice ‘keeper back in the Magpies’ starting XI in the near future, which is likely to be very pleasing news indeed.