Steven Harmison has claimed that Newcastle United’s incoming signing, Nick Pope, isn’t a better player than the club’s number one, Martin Dubravka, as he told talkSPORT Breakfast on Wednesday morning.
The former England fast bowler, who is a Newcastle fan, added that given that the Magpies are paying a rumoured £10 million for the England goalkeeper, then it’s probably a deal ‘too good’ to turn down.
Burnley’s relegation to the Championship opened up the doors for a number of their star players to head for the exit door, with Pope being the one to lead that queue.
Newcastle have Dubravka as their number one, but Karlow Darlow has also donned the gloves, but his time might be up, with this imminent arrival of Pope, it’s claimed that he will have a medical this week.
Nonetheless, this is what 2005 Ashes hero and former fast bowler Harmison had to say about Pope heading to St James’ Park in the coming days.
“I think at £10 million, it’s a good buy, from a price point of view, for somebody who is knocking on the England door,” said Harmison.
“My question would be ‘is he better than Martin Dubravka?’ I would argue he isn’t. I think Martin Dubravka is a very, very fine goalkeeper. Newcastle have got Karl Darlow as well, who did very well when Martin was injured.
“I think Nick Pope is a very fine shot-stopper. But is he the football goalkeeper that Eddie Howe needs? Or was it just too good a business to turn down? And possibly for £10 million, it might have been too good a deal to not gone through.”
POPE STARTS FOR NEWCASTLE
Pope is the big winner in this move because it takes his career to another level and at the right time for the 30-year-old.
The London-born star starts for Newcastle if he puts pen-to-paper on a contract, but he doesn’t for England, with Jordan Pickford ahead of him in the pecking order.
One area that is holding Pope back is his lack of quality when playing out from the back, but under Eddie Howe, compared to what he did at Turf Moor, he is going to do that a lot more.
And if he impresses, and takes his game to another level, then he might just be pushing Pickford that little harder, especially with the 2022 World Cup around the corner.
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