Martin Dúbravka

[timeEd32]

1 minute ago, midds said:

 Absolutely

 

Unless they've got a deal set up for a young prospect to come in for a few quid then I can't see how this leaves us in a stronger position. 

 

Did getting Pope leave us in a stronger position?

 

Is using £2m in annual wages (plus the rest of the fee(s)) better spent on someone other than a backup GK?

[et tu brute]

9 minutes ago, timeEd32 said:

I cannot believe the (over)reaction to this deal.

I can after January and the way they tried to fuck us over. No way on hell they should be given an option, either commit or fuck off.

[Jack27]

7 minutes ago, midds said:

 Absolutely

 

Unless they've got a deal set up for a young prospect to come in for a few quid then I can't see how this leaves us in a stronger position. 

We have a young prospect who’s just come in lol 

[midds]

3 minutes ago, timeEd32 said:

 

Did getting Pope leave us in a stronger position?

 

Is using £2m in annual wages (plus the rest of the fee(s)) better spent on someone other than a backup GK?

Yes. Obviously. 

 

No. I'd rather have reliable cover at GK, it's a key position and we had finally cover there for the first time in decades. And now we haven't - for the sake of a couple of million quid. 

[Kanji]

Do many clubs have reliable backups these days?

[timeEd32]

2 minutes ago, midds said:

Yes. Obviously. 

 

No. I'd rather have reliable cover at GK, it's a key position and we had finally cover there for the first time in decades. And now we haven't - for the sake of a couple of million quid. 

 

I'd much rather have Isak, or a CM, or literally anything else than a backup GK that is moderately better than our 3rd choice GK.

[Joey Linton]

Don't understand the idea that just because Man United treated Lingard disgracefully in January we should do the same to Dubs now. Would like to think we're better than that.

 

He wants to go, he'll likely get more first team football. Unfortunate how its come about, but always the risk of replacing your senior keeper when he's in his 30s.

[SUPERTOON]

7 minutes ago, Kanji said:

Do many clubs have reliable backups these days?

Just Man Utd by the looks of things 

[midds]

3 minutes ago, Kanji said:

Do many clubs have reliable backups these days?

Honestly don't know mate but that's not the point imo. We were one of the ones that did but now we don't, we've given that reliability up and Man U now have the luxury and we have the problem. I want what's best for my club and couldn't really give a fuck about any others.

 

I'm going to leave it now as I think I've made my point and some will disagree which is absolutely fine. I just think it's a needless risk we're taking for minimal benefit. No-one wants an injury to Pope but if we need to rely on Darlow for any prolonged period of time then he'll cost us goals, games, points and positions. We now need to keep our fingers crossed until May and we shouldn't be in that position imo

[LeeB]

Whilst I don’t think Darlow is amazing, I think he’s about the level a backup keeper for a team in our position should be. There aren’t many very good keepers who are going to be happy sitting on the bench for, at least for the time being, a team not playing in Europe.

[bowlingcrofty]

Regardless of your thoughts on Dubravka, the fact Man United are coming to us for our reserve keeper on loan shows the direction that both clubs are going in.

[STM]

Would it be fair to say we are taking a small gamble?

 

Ultimately, Pope will likely play 30+ games for us in the PL this season and even in the scenario where he gets injured, we only have until mid November when the world cup starts, then we have January to help us out.

 

Is it great, no. Is it a big deal, probably not.

 

On the positive, we've effectively spent 4m on a superb keeper, which is also a younger upgrade.

[STM]

3 minutes ago, bowlingcrofty said:

Regardless of your thoughts on Dubravka, the fact Man United are coming to us for our reserve keeper on loan shows the direction that both clubs are going in.

 

It's not indicative of anything really, Man City signed Scott Carson a couple of years ago. Big clubs often sign older keepers from smaller clubs who are willing to sit on the bench.

[OverThere]

18 minutes ago, Kanji said:

Do many clubs have reliable backups these days?

Well Man U will otherwise why do they want him.

 

In fact what is going to happen is Man U will now have a reliable back up whereas we will not.

 

IMO all that is happened is their position (Heaton as back up) will now be ours (Darlow as back up)

[Newcastle Fan]

Good move for him to be honest, he's 33 and he won't really be getting ahead of Pope here so he might as well try and make something happen for him there, if De Gea makes one or two more mistakes Ten Hag might just give him the nod.

[bowlingcrofty]

2 minutes ago, STM said:

 

It's not indicative of anything really, Man City signed Scott Carson a couple of years ago. Big clubs often sign older keepers from smaller clubs who are willing to sit on the bench.

Fair point - guess I’m just not used to (a) them signing players from us and (b) other teams actually wanting our players  

[Aiston]

Good move for him.

 

Leaves us weaker in goal, hopefully Pope never gets injured.

[Nobody]

Nah that's still shite for us. Guess the only upside for us is if De Gea gets injured, Dubs won't be able to play against us.

[gdm]

1 minute ago, Nobody said:

Nah that's still shite for us. Guess the only upside for us is if De Gea gets injured, Dubs won't be able to play against us.

An inevitable £6m plus what ever the loan fee will be on top of that is decent business. 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by gdm

[BonesJones]

4 hours ago, SUPERTOON said:

As I said previously, no club really has a strong number 2, because any good keepers want to play. I’m 

 

Probably the club that were aiming for at the moment, West Ham. Areola and Fabianski, possibly best 1 and 2 in the league, maybe?

[GideonShandy]

1 minute ago, gdm said:

An inevitable £6m is decent business. 

But if it's really inevitable why not just have them pay it now?

[Nobody]

2 minutes ago, gdm said:

An inevitable £6m plus what ever the loan fee will be on top of that is decent business. 

 

 

 

£6m is absolutely fuck all these days man, especially when it's not even guaranteed It's the difference between finishing 9th and 11th, which is very realistic if Pope is injured for just five games this season. 

[Wolfcastle]

In a reversal of convention perhaps we could put in his contract that he must play against us rather than not.

 

[gdm]

Just now, Nobody said:

£6m is absolutely fuck all these days man, especially when it's not even guaranteed It's the difference between finishing 9th and 11th, which is very realistic if Pope is injured for just five games this season. 

Sound. It’s really simple  The guy wants to go. We need a keeper out the door. Howe clearly doesn’t share your concerns about Darlow. We made a deal happen. 
 

the business we’ve done and look like continuing to do and people are moaning about letting a substitute keeper go. 

[Nobody]

As for "no one has a decent number two", Villa have Olsen who is still the current Swedish starting keeper and is much better than Karl Darlow. 

Chelsea have Kepa, the most expensive keeper ever. I know he's been dodgy for them but could still be reliably called upon. 

Palace have Butland and Johnstone, both who are much better than Darlow. 

Everton have Begovic, another former PL starter. He probably have faded a fair bit, but at his best a very decent keeper.

Man Utd will have Dubravka, West Ham Areola, Spurs Forster.

There are clearly a lot of teams that have much better back up goalkeepers than Darlow, and we're giving one of the best ones away for basically nowt.