Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe hasn't cut a happy figure this season
Like a scene out of Moneyball, Newcastle’s recruitment team did a deal with Nottingham Forest whereby Forest acquired Newcastle academy graduate Elliot Anderson for £35m (a player Forest wanted to sign and Newcastle didn’t want to lose) but the deal hinged on Nottingham Forest’s goalkeeper Odesseas Vlahodimos going the other way in a separate deal.
Paul Mitchell and Darren Eales were the Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill in Newcastle’s Moneyball scene, but Eddie Howe was edited out. He can’t have been happy, and perhaps this is where the crux of the discontent at the club stems from.
Howe had designs on signing a goalkeeper to challenge, and potentially usurp, Nick Pope as Newcastle’s No.1 with names such as Giorgi Mamardashvili, Aaron Ramsdale and James Trafford on his shopping list. All of whom would’ve have cost in the region of £20m-£30m.
Adding insult to injury this deal saw a massive talent in Elliot Anderson depart the club. A popular member of the dressing room, a boyhood fan of the club, one of the best academy products Newcastle had produced in decades who had shown glimpses of his potential between bouts of injury and big-money signings arriving in and around his position.
Reading between the lines of the transfers, it appears that Newcastle have banked the £35m received for the Elliot Anderson deal as pure profit, with Anderson a home-grown youngster. In addition, they sold Yankuba Minteh (who they’d signed for just £5.8m a year ago from Danish side OB) to Brighton for £30m. But to trigger the Anderson deal Newcastle had to fork out £20m for a goalkeeper they didn’t want and Forest didn’t want either.
Vlahodimos’ contract hasn’t been disclosed, but let’s assume it’s four years and the £20m transfer is spread over that period at £5m per year. Theoretically, Newcastle could have banked £65m on 30 June, spent £5m on their first instalment to Forest for Vlahodimos, and banked £30m from Brighton for Minteh – a net gain of... oh, £60m. The shortfall neatly recovered in time for the new financial year.
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Vlahodimos’ 45 minutes vs AFC Wimbledon are likely to represent the only game time he will ever see as a Newcastle United player. “I'm pleased to give an opportunity to any player that deserves it,” said Eddie Howe after the game when asked about Vlahodimos’ half of football.
“I have to say since he's come to the football club, his attitude has been excellent, he's worked very hard. I thought he did well today coming on because that was a difficult moment for the team.”
On the surface, Vlahodimos looks every inch, of his 6ft 2in frame, a Premier League goalkeeper. He’s a Greek international with 44 caps who played in both their recent Nations League wins and is expected to play vs England at Wembley on 10 Oct.
He has played 32 times in the Champions League and won two Portuguese league titles with Benfica who have a reputation as a launch pad for talented keepers with Ederson and Jan Oblak passing through the club. Their current number one, Anatoliy Trubin, shone at Euro 2024 for Ukraine where he took over from Real Madrid keeper Andriy Lunin after the first game.
Vlahodimos is experienced, yet also the youngest of Newcastle’s current goalkeeping group. Nick Pope is 32, Martin Dubravka 35, Mark Gillespie 32, while free transfer John Ruddy is 37.
Nick Pope is undoubtedly Newcastle’s first choice by a distance, but playing with the ball at his feet has become an increasing issue as time has gone on and emphasis on this attribute grows in modern goalkeeping. The profile of goalkeeper on Howe’s summer recruitment list suggests he is keen to address this.
During Vlahodimos’ unexpected 45-minute cameo he looked supremely confident with the ball as his feet and tidy enough when briefly called upon to make two routine saves. Granted this was at home to League Two opposition in the third round of the Carabao Cup.
Howe chose to rest Nick Pope for this game but named Martin Dubravka in the starting XI with Vlachodimos and John Ruddy both curiously named on the bench. A possible message to Newcastle’s new Sporting Director, Paul Mitchell, with whom many well-informed local journalists believe to be strained? 'Your £20m goalkeeper is my third choice'.
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Do these political issues between Sporting Director and head coach stem from the fact Newcastle’s directors got themselves in a PSR tangle in the first place? A frustration that Vlahodimos is even in the building when Howe wanted Trafford, Ramsdale or Mamardashvili?
Switching John Ruddy in for the injured Dubravka at half-time would’ve been a damning indictment, but Howe stopped short of that. Freudiantly, as the second half vs Wimbledon was about to begin, Newcastle’s stadium announcer mistakenly told supporters over the stadium tannoy that John Ruddy was coming on for the stricken Dubravka rather than Vlahodimos. The Greek keeper didn’t seem to notice, but it was an unfortunate slip.
The latest denigration since his arrival on 1 July. Third choice. Third wheel.
You can’t help but feel for him. His name, Odysseas, is derived from the Greek verb odussomai which usually means ‘to be angry at’, ‘to hate’, or ‘to be grieved’.
He’d have every right to feel those emotions at his new club, but by all accounts – even Howe’s, that isn’t the case. Instead it’s Howe himself who appears to be harbouring those feelings right now.
