A few Newcastle United fans have been reacting on social media to reports by the Chronicle, regarding the immediate future of Freddie Woodman whilst on loan with Swansea City.
Woodman’s immediate future has been cast under the spotlight after the club confirmed that Martin Dubravka will be out injured for the remainder of the month, having damaged his medial knee ligaments during our clash with Southampton last weekend.
Head coach Steve Bruce will be unable to turn to Woodman in his hour of need, however, as the Toon do not have an option in our agreement with Swansea that would allow the 23-year-old to return outside of a transfer window.
The club had a restricted window in January that would have allowed Woodman to come back to St. James’ Park for the second half of the campaign, though the option was not taken up.
As a result, Karl Darlow is expected to step in for Dubravka between our sticks until the Slovakian returns, starting with Sunday’s clash with Sheffield United.
Will Woodman be at St. James' next season?
Yes
No
Unlike Darlow, who has only featured in the cup competitions this season, Woodman has been an integral part of Swansea’s Championship side.
The former England U21 international has started all 37 of the Jacks’ second-tier fixtures thus far, in which he has kept the division’s fifth-most clean sheets (11).
Woodman’s long-term future will likely become a hot topic in the summer given his exploits at the Liberty Stadium, where the Chronicle note head coach Steve Cooper would ‘love’ to keep the ‘keeper.
Here are some of the messages shared as fans reacted to the Chronicle’s report, including a few from fans focusing on the impact of Woodman being unable to return until the summer…
Darlow in goal ? That’s us getting relegated
— AaronL2590 (@l2590) March 12, 2020
Gonna take a wild shot in the dark and say it means he stays at Swansea for the rest of the season, while we play Darlow in goal and have Elliot on the bench.
— Joe Dimmer (@gothbotherer) March 12, 2020
Knowing steve he would put longstaff in goal
— Daniel Reed (@DanielR24091201) March 11, 2020
It means nothing for Woodman as he can’t be recalled due to us no longer having that option and us having two senior keepers I’m guessing.
— chris (@cbil1984) March 12, 2020
Nowt we have two keepers already
— B 2.0 (@JMAG1892_2) March 11, 2020
I’d personally call him back and have him in goal…
— TMW (@TilehurstsOwn) March 11, 2020
In other Newcastle United news, a £19.8m-rated Toon duo have been tipped to reconsider their futures at St. James’ Park.