Arsenal and Everton are among a handful of clubs that have been alerted to the potential availability of Newcastle United goalkeeper Freddie Woodman in the summer.
If the report from Chronicle Live is to be believed, Newcastle United are likely to move a few players off their books in the summer. One of the names that have come up is of goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, who is reportedly drawing interest from fellow Premier League clubs Arsenal and Everton.
Frederick John Woodman joined Newcastle United in 2013 and has since been hauled out on loans to the lower English leagues and Scotland. While the goalkeeper has been capped by England till the Under-21 level, it is rather surprising to note that he is yet to be given a chance at the senior level by the Magpies.
Woodman comes from a footballing family. He is the son of former Northampton Town goalkeeper Andy Woodman, with current England NT manager Gareth Southgate, who himself represented England back in his days, his godfather. The Newcastle goalkeeper already has two major trophies in the bag – the Under-17 European Championships and the Under-20 World Cup.
The 22-year-old will have just a year left on his current deal at the end of the season and is yet to show any progress of committing to a new long-term deal. The report iterates that Arsenal and Everton are keeping tabs while Fulham and Celtic are also showing interest in the 22-year-old.
Arsenal will have Bernd Leno as the only goalkeeping option for the new season, should David Ospina not want to stay put after returning from his season-long loan deal at Napoli. The Gunners will have the returning Emiliano Martinez to provide company to Leno, but they are looking at the prospect of adding a young talent like Woodman to their roster.
As far as Everton are concerned, Maarten Stekelenburg – Everton’s current backup – is already 36 and will need replacing. Jordan Pickford hasn’t looked entirely convincing this season between the sticks for the Toffees.
Woodman could act as a potent option in goal for Marco Silva & co. while also being able to challenge Pickford for the starting spot, should the current England first-choice’s form not see any improvement by the new season.
Back in the summer of 2018, Freddie Woodman was linked to Manchester United but ended up staying put. The goalkeeper has been rated highly by the coaches within the England setup and is likely to have several suitors, should Newcastle United make the 22-year-old available.
It will now be up to the Magpies to show an intent of providing first-team opportunities to Freddie Woodman, or risk losing a brilliant goalkeeping prospect for nothing in 2020, should they refuse to entertain the idea of selling the 22-year-old.
