Nick Pope to leave Burnley, sign with Newcastle United

Nick Pope has become Newcastle’s second signing of the 2022 summer after reaching a deal with the Magpies. The figure Newcastle United will pay Burnley is still unknown, but it’s said to be on the low end of the scale. Pope, who had one year left in his deal—with an option to extend it for another one—with recently-relegated Burnley, will sign a multi-year contract with NUFC.

David Ornstein, from The Athletic, reported the offer and the agreement on a fee in principle between both clubs. Italian reporter Fabrizio Romano, as well as other voices of the interwebs chronicling football and Newcastle-bound developments also had commented on this deal getting completed soon a few days ago. It’s now going down for real.

The signing of Pope follows the departure of long-time Magpie Freddie Woodman, who is joining Preston on a permanent deal as Newcastle made the move official yesterday. It makes sense from that point of view, and it would have done without actually selling Woodman either because the Toon had prioritized signing a keeper anyway throughout the summer transfer market.

Nick Pope comes as an England international with eight caps to his name, and as part of the most recent Three Lions contingent to challenge at the Nations League games played earlier this month. Pope, 30 years old, breaks the assumed philosophy of bringing young players with upside, but he’s a solid player projected to provide competition to current starting goalie Martin Dubravka.

This signing is the first one that Dan Ashworth took a big part in completing. Eddie Howe was the man asking for a secondary/primary reinforce at the GK position, but he didn’t have to enter the negotiations with Nick Pope himself once the former Burnley ball-stopper was identified as the club's main target to add this summer. Other options such as Alphonse Areola, Dean Henderson, and Keylor Navas were explored but never materialized for one reason or another.

With Matt Targett secured and Nick Pope just pending passing his medical on Thursday, that makes it two additions for Newcastle ahead of the 2022/23 season and, most importantly, of the start of the training camps come July 1.

Finalizing the deals for Hugo Ekitike and Sven Botman is the next point on Newcastle’s to-do list and they expect to advance—and close—the negotiations with both the players and their clubs this or next week before the training portion of the pre-season begins and players have to report at the club’s ground.