Newcastle United confirmed on Tuesday that Freddie Woodman left the Magpies to join Preston North End on a permanent deal, ending a nine-year stay at St James’ Park.
Eddie Howe wasted little time scouring his replacement, however, with Newcastle confirming the £10m-signing of Nick Pope from Burnley on Thursday, so the Toon Army have upgraded their shot-stoppers in a matter of days.
Woodman joined Newcastle from Crystal Palace in 2013 and went on to make just nine appearances in all competitions. The 25-year-old’s inability to nail down a starting place in the first-team led to him being loaned out on seven separate occasions.
He didn’t make an appearance for Hartlepool (2014), made 12 appearances for Crawley Town (2015), made 15 appearances for Kilmarnock (2017), made eight appearances for Aberdeen (2018), made 95 appearances for Swansea City (2019/20) (2020/21) and made one appearance for Bournemouth (2022).
Woodman had three years left on his contract, but it wasn’t a shock to see him leave. He needs regular playing time for the sake of his development. Howe did well bring Pope in as his replacement though. The 30-year-old made 155 appearances for Burnley (2016 – 2022), conceding 186 goals with 53 clean sheets.
He’s represented the England national team on eight occasions and will now push Martin Dubravka for a starting place next season.
In other news, Jonathan Woodgate says Sven Botman would ‘up the ante’ if signed by Newcastle
