Manchester United, with their strangest piece of business this summer, have agreed to a deal in principle for goalkeeper and now Newcastle United’s number two, Martin Dubravka.
Quality and quantity, that is the message from the new Man United boss as they look to add a second stopper to compete with the struggling David de Gea. It is no secret why Dubravka is leaving Tyneside as well.
With the arrival of Nick Pope, his chances of first-team football have diminished. With United also letting Dean Henderson go out on loan to Nottingham Forest and with more football on the horizon, all cup competitions back and European competitions starting, the need for backup or competition was required at Old Trafford.
He will join Erik Ten Hag at Old Trafford on a loan deal initially and there will be an option to make the move permanent at the end of the season, as per Sky Sports.
"Manchester United have agreed a deal with Newcastle to sign goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.The 33-year-old will move to Old Trafford on loan. Man Utd will have the option to make the deal permanent – an option that will become obligatory depending on the number of appearances Dubravka makes."
The Strange Manchester United Way
Not sure why Man United didn’t hold onto Henderson this season. In the last runout, his campaign was hampered by injury and de Gea had one of his best displays in between the sticks for United, spoiling his chances of making a case for the club’s number 1. But one cannot understand why they let their second choice go before any fixtures were played.
A better judgement could have been made by the Manchester club and they could have saved the efforts of having to look for a back. Added to this, despite Forest struggling to keep a clean sheet and conceding nine goals (at the time of writing this), he has been a great asset to them with all the saves he has made to date.
He has been the busiest of all the keepers in the league and has saved 19 of the 24 shots on target against him. So he would have been of good service to ten Hag.
But one could only understand if Henderson didn’t want to wait around and leave it to chance for him to secure regular game time, especially with the World Cup coming and England’s number 1 spot still up for debate.
Once Dubravka done, that is expected to be the end of the signings at Old Trafford this summer. Obviously a few may still go out, inc James Garner. Leicester, Everton and Southampton looking at him.
— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) August 30, 2022
Manchester United Done After Martin Dubravka Addition
They have added five new players to the roster at Old Trafford; Tyrell Malacia, Christian Eriksen, Lisandro Martinez, Casemiro, and Antony have all joined the club ahead of Dubravka.
Sadly for United fans, the club appears to be done after adding a striker and a backup stopper, and any last-minute ditch for Frenkie de Jong seems off the table completely.