Newcastle United journalist Jordan Cronin has been sharing his thoughts on the current goalkeeper situation at St. James’ Park.
This comes after Cronin made an appearance on a recent episode of the Mouth of the Tyne podcast from the Shields Gazette where he spoke about a range of transfer-related topics concerning Steve Bruce’s side.
On the subject of Newcastle’s current crop of goalkeepers, particularly Karl Darlow and Freddie Woodman, Cronin had this to say about the duo.
He said: “I just don’t think there’s room for both of them, to be honest, as well as Martin Dubravka.
“There’s no room for two excellent goalkeepers below him, you need to make a decision and only probably offload one.
“If money is tight this summer, then do you take that risk and offload them? In my opinion, I’d probably lean towards offloading Karl Darlow because I think Freddie Woodman’s got a little bit more potential to work with, but it’s a big decision to be made.
“I think that’s definitely an area they should definitely consider.”
Darlow has been a Newcastle player since 2014 whereas Woodman joined the club’s U18s back in 2013.
TIF Thoughts on Jordan Cronin’s comments on Newcastle’s goalkeepers…
Given how Woodman (24) is younger than Darlow (30), it’s easy to see why Cronin thinks the club should offload Darlow rather than Woodman if they were to say goodbye to one of their current goalkeepers this summer.
In our view, if Newcastle see Woodman as their future first-choice shot-stopper, then they should sell Darlow this summer and start to integrate Woodman into the team wherever possible.
Who would you rather see stay at Newcastle?
Karl Darlow
Freddie Woodman
With Darlow being linked with a move to Watford in recent weeks, this could well put him on his way towards the exit door at St. James’ Park if the club decides to let him go.
On the other hand, if they feel like they could potentially pick up more money for Woodman than Darlow, then this could also be a possibility this summer.
Overall, we feel the best thing for Newcastle to do from a long-term point of view would be to sell Darlow and keep Woodman around for the future if they believe he is or can become good enough to be their main goalkeeper.