Michael Owen has named Newcastle United goalkeeper Nick Pope in his 2022/23 Premier League Team of the Season, but added that Manchester United’s David de Gea wouldn’t even make his top five.
On Monday night, Eddie Howe’s side secured Champions League football for next season by recording a goalless draw against Dean Smith’s relegation-threatened Leicester City, it was Nick Pope’s 14th clean sheet of the campaign.
Following his summer transfer from Burnley, Owen thinks the England international has been ‘exceptional’ for Newcastle, and whilst David de Gea wins the Golden Glove with, at least 17 clean sheets for Manchester United, he wouldn’t even make Owen’s top five, as he told the Final Word on Premier League Productions (22/05/23 at 11:25 pm).
In terms of the Premier League, nothing much has separated both Newcastle and Manchester United, with the latter needing one more point from their final two matches to secure Champions League football.
A big reason why the duo will finish in the top four is their defence, but it’s fair to say that the goalkeepers have produced different performances.
Whilst de Gea has struggled and made many errors leading to goals, it has been an outstanding campaign for Pope and that’s why he was in Owen’s Team of the Season.
“There are a few set in stone (players who make the TOTS, such as Haaland),” said Owen. “Whereas I think you could have, quite justifiably say, let’s go for the goalkeeper, for example. There are probably four or five goalkeepers that you could go for.
“Funnily enough, I probably wouldn’t put David de Gea in my top five this season. Ederson is on my bench. I think Alisson at Liverpool has been very good indeed. There have been lots of good goalkeepers.
“But I do think that Nick Pope has been exceptional this season. And, as you say, one of the best defensive records in the Premier League.”
NICK POPE ONE OF THE SIGNINGS OF THE SEASON
It goes to show how quickly things can change in football because, this time last season, Pope was suffering relegation to the Championship with Burnley.
Fast forward to the present and he is now preparing to play in Europe’s elite competition.
Aaron Ramsdale, who suffered back-to-back relegations with Bournemouth and Sheffield United before joining Arsenal, went down a not-too-dissimilar route, so it just goes to show how there is light even during the darkest of times, with Pope in with a shout of being one of the signings of the season.
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