Newcastle United journalist Liam Kennedy has been sharing his thoughts on Toon goalkeeper Martin Dubravka and his upcoming return to action.
This comes after Kennedy made an appearance on a recent edition of NUFC Matters on Steve Wraith’s YouTube channel, where he spoke about a range of topics concerning the Tyneside club.
During the show, Kennedy was asked when Dubravka will be back fit and available to play for the team after undergoing foot surgery over the summer.
In response, Kennedy had this to say on the matter.
He said: “It sounds like this weekend will probably come up too soon for Dubravka. He’s been out since around June, but the suggestion is that I think he’ll be ready for Tottenham.
“That gives Steve Bruce an incredible decision to make. He’s only just made the big call, although injury helped him out, to bring Karl Darlow back in.
“He was very loyal to Karl Darlow last season – some would argue too loyal at times when Martin Dubravka came in. He wins more points than he loses, everybody who watches the show regularly knows my opinions on Martin Dubravka, because Dubravka is the best goalkeeper by far at Newcastle United, in my opinion.
“And I think the sooner that he’s back, the better Newcastle United as a team and as a collective defensively will be.
“He’s got the odd mistake in him, there are not many goalkeepers who haven’t, but I think he’ll be a big boost and I suspect Tottenham will be the decision game.
“Will Steve Bruce make that decision? He’s going to have to be brave and, for me, hopefully he’s learned from maybe the error of his ways last season and hanging on to Darlow for too long, and he just throws Dubravka straight back in when he’s fit, because that’s what I would do.”
TIF Thoughts on Liam Kennedy’s comments on Dubravka and his return…
Newcastle originally signed Dubravka on a loan deal from Sparta Prague back in the 2018 January transfer window before securing him on a permanent deal in the following summer window for a fee of £3.6 million.
Since then, the 32-year-old, who is currently valued at £4.5 million according to Transfermarkt, has made 103 appearances for the Magpies across all competitions, in which he has managed to keep 29 clean sheets in the process.
Taking into account how Newcastle have managed to concede 14 goals in the six Premier League games they’ve played so far, failing to keep even one clean sheet in the process, it seems as though they could do with having Dubravka back in the team as soon as possible given how highly regarded he is by Kennedy.
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In our view, if Dubravka is available to play in Newcastle’s match against Tottenham Hotspur in October, as Kennedy spoke about, this could give the Toon a great chance of getting a positive result, considering Spurs have only managed to score four goals in the league so far.
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