There’s no denying that Newcastle United’s roster is now weaker than it needs to be and will soon get considerably weaker.
Third-choice goalkeeper Loris Karius is one of the players whose contracts are up at the end of the season and will be leaving the team.
This leaves a void in the lineup, but we’d be shocked if Martin Dubravka is still there come opening day of the following campaign. After Nick Pope returns from injury, he’s expected to be dropped back to second choice, and to be honest, he hasn’t exactly excelled in his role as Pope’s backup this year.
Thus, there will probably need to be two goalkeeper spots available.
Mark Gillespie of Newcastle has been granted an extension.
But fear not—according to Craig Hope, the club has elected to exercise the option of giving Mark Gillespie’s contract an additional year.
“Who?” is what you mean, what?
Geordie, 32, genuinely has the best job in the world. He has always been a devoted Newcastle supporter, so he gets to practice with his beloved team without ever having to play, and he gets paid for the opportunity.
Mark Gillespie has made just three appearances in four years
Gillespie has been at Newcastle for almost four years and has made just three competitive appearances for the Magpies, all of which came in the Carabao Cup in 2020/21 in the wins over Blackburn, Morecambe and Newport County.
He’s apparently one of the favourites in the dressing room though, so that’s good. At this point, there is only Dan Ashworth who is currently getting paid to do less by the club.
We wonder if he will get a bump up to third-choice ‘keeper next season rather than Howe bringing in two more goalies and keeping him at number four. The poor lad must be itching to get a game and to be honest, we’re quite keen to see what he can do. Can he really be worse than Dubravka?
