Newcastle United green light move for 'excellent' goalkeeper
Newcastle United have made the goalkeeper available for transfer.
Newcastle United are working on a loan move for Greek goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos.
Vlachodimos joined the Magpies from Nottingham Forest last summer for a reported £20million with Elliot Anderson heading the opposite direction for £35m in an agreement that saw both clubs comply with Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
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But for Vlachodimos, the switch to Tyneside has been a difficult one. The 31-year-old’s substitute appearances in the 1-0 Carabao Cup win over AFC Wimbledon last October is his only competitive appearance, while he was named in the matchday squad on just 14 occasions last season.
Vlachodimos was present with the team during the pre-season trip to Austria last week but wasn’t included in the 25-man squad for Saturday’s 4-0 friendly defeat at Celtic. He is, however, part of the 30-man squad that has travelled for the tour or Asia.
Newcastle United working on Odysseas Vlachodimos loan exit
NewcastleWorld has learned that Newcastle are actively pursuing a loan exit for Vlachodimos, having put feelers out to intermediaries in an attempt to sort the former Benfica man a move.
In an ideal world, the Magpies would prefer the player to leave on a permanent deal, but that is widely accepted to be near impossible for at least the next few windows.
Newcastle are being forced to loan out Vlachodimos opposed to selling him due to the huge transfer fee they paid for him last summer. Unless they are able to recoup a significant fee for Vlachodimos, any sale would go down as a significant PSR loss on the books.
For example, having paid around £20m for the player and put him on what is believed to be a five-year deal, this summer the Greek will be worth around £16m on the books. In a PSR world, it would mean Newcastle would have to sell him for that figure, in order not to incur a loss on their calculations.
As such, a loan exit seems likely for Vlachodimos this summer. The goalkeeper turned down the opportunity to join Al-Shabab during the January transfer window after Martin Dubravka’s move to the Saudi Pro League fell through.
Vlachodimos would prefer to stay in Europe after recently rejecting a move to Mexican club Pumas and has attracted some interest from Spain, including Real Betis and Villarreal, according to reports.
As it stands, Vlachodimos is third choice goalkeepers at Newcastle behind Nick Pope and Martin Dubravka, while John Ruddy and Mark Gillespie also remain the club’s books,
Eddie Howe praises Odysseas Vlachodimos
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has previously spoken highly about Vlachodimos and his conduct behind the scenes.
“He's been excellent behind the scenes,” he said in January. “He's a really, lovely lad, a really nice person, he's got a really nice way about him, very smiley, happy. But you can see he's driven and he's a vastly experienced goalkeeper, so I think he's added a lot to the training group.
“He's been actively involved in all the training that we've done and he's become a really well-liked member of the team, well-liked member of the goalkeeping team, but also the first team. So he's been excellent with his conduct around the building.”
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