Newcastle United goalkeeper Martin Dubravka has revealed that he was told by Sparta Prague’s sporting director that a move to the Magpies was not happening on the morning of his switch to St James’ Park.
The shot stopper joined the Magpies on a loan-to-buy deal in the winter transfer window of 2018, immediately taking the starting role between the sticks – a responsibility he has not let up since arriving.
However, he has lifted the lid on how close his move was to not happening, saying that he was told it was not going ahead at 2am on the morning of transfer deadline day and that it was a last minute move that went down to the wire.
He told the Times: “I knocked on his door again to his (Zdenek Scasny, Sparta sporting director) room. At two in the morning he had said no. This time he looked at me and said yes. (He was told) It’s on, you’re going to Newcastle. You’ve made the Premier League.’
“We had ten hours. We had to fly for three hours. I landed in Newcastle and went straight for an MRI scan, then to the stadium and I wear only the tracksuit from Sparta Prague. I watched 15 minutes of the game against Burnley.
“I went to see the doctor and by then it was twenty minutes until the transfer window shut. ‘Do we have time for this?’ I think two minutes until the transfer window closed, they confirmed I was a player of Newcastle United.”
Opinion
Nothing like leaving things to the last minute is there? Hindsight is a truly wonderful thing but you can be sure that if Newcastle knew what sort of impact he would have between the sticks then they would have pushed much, much harder to seal his capture earlier than they managed to do. He has been an absolutely wonderful signing for Rafael Benitez, bringing confidence and composure to the defence with his commanding performances. This will give fans an idea of just how tight transfer deadline days can be in terms of getting signings over the line, but you can be sure that the Toon Army will be delighted that they managed to get Dubravka in at St James’ Park. He has put the futures of Karl Darlow and Rob Elliot to bed on Tyneside and at 30-years-old has plenty left in the tank to become a hero for the Magpies.
