Former Newcastle United goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka has now accused manager Eddie Howe of going back on his word.
The player was very close to moving to Saudi Arabia in December 2024, but Newcastle pulled the plug on the deal at the last moment and offered him a new contract.
The player has now revealed that Howe had initially agreed to let him leave, but an injury to Nick Pope altered the club’s plans.
Newcastle urged him to stay at the club and offered him a new contract as well. The goalkeeper claims that he was delighted to stay at Newcastle, as it was his first priority. However, the Newcastle boss dropped him from the starting lineup even after offering the new deal, and that made no sense to the player. He also admitted that he had uncomfortable conversations with the Newcastle manager after that.
“I said ‘bye’ to everyone, and then I spoke to the gaffer to say ‘goodbye’ – he told me he was going to give me a call the next day, so I was confused,”Dubravka told The Times.
“I was going to travel to Riyadh the next day. When the gaffer called me, he said it doesn’t really make sense to let you go because it’s a semi-final and Nick is not back.
“I came back on Friday and played against Bromley [in the FA cup third round] the next day. After the game I spoke with the club and they offered me a new contract.
“You cannot compare the contract in Saudi financially with the one in Newcastle, but for me it was always Newcastle first, and I was delighted to stay.
“Everything was smooth and we signed the deal. It was official on the Thursday, and then on the Saturday Eddie dropped me!
“I didn’t expect that because I just signed a new deal with Newcastle instead of one which would completely secure my life in Saudi Arabia. I was shocked. We had a conversation after the game, and it was not a nice conversation.”
The player believes that he could have secured a good life for himself in Saudi Arabia with a better financial offer on the table. However, Newcastle blocked him.