Transfer Deadline Roundup: No one in, five out led by Dubravka’s loan to Manchester United

It took until the very last minute of the summer transfer market but Newcastle United finally went down to work on some offloading business and completed the sale of one player (Federico Fernandez) while also sending out four more (Martin Dubravka, Lucas de Bolle, Matty Longstaff, and Kell Watts) on loan.

With the transfer deadline day over and already well in the rearview mirror, this is how Newcastle’s summer transfers break down when it comes to arrivals and departures.

Newcastle transfers in

• Alexander Isak — Real Sociedad, £60m
• Sven Botman — Lille, £31.8m
• Nick Pope — Burnley, £11m
• Matt Targett — Aston Villa, £19.5m

Newcastle transfers out

• Federico Fernandez — Elche, free transfer
• Lucas de Bolle — Hamilton, loan
• Martin Dubravka — Manchester United, loan
• Matty Longstaff — Colchester United, loan
• Kell Watts — Peterborough United, loan
• Dwight Gayle — Stoke City, free transfer
• Jeff Hendrick — Reading, loan
• Ciaran Clark — Sheffield United, loan
• Freddie Woodman — Preston North End, free transfer
• Isaac Hayden — Norwich, loan

Although not cashing in any of the outgoing deals, Newcastle at least was able to unload a good bunch of players without a place in the first-team squad and thus bound to sit out the Premier League season and most cup matches.

Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images

Most interesting because of his recent value to the club, Martin Dubravka’s deal to join Manchester United on loan for the remainder of the season includes two interesting quirks (reported by The Athletic). The first one is that the deal includes a recall clause to be executed by Newcastle, if needed, next January. The second one is a future buy option for Manchester fixed at £6 million—which will turn into an obligatory option for United if Dubrakva plays a “significant number of Premier League matches” (the exact number has not been reported yet).

Dubravka was expected to remain the no. 1 goalkeeper for the 2022/23 season until Eddie Howe demanded the signing of England international Nick Pope earlier this summer. That brought a new go-to goalie to the Magpies net, forcing Dubravka into assuming his reserve role or looking for a move out of the team. The Slovakian shot-stopper chose the latter option and will now play for Manchester United at least until next January. Whether he’ll start games or not is an entirely different issue given David de Gea’s presence on United’s goal as the clear starting goalkeeper—and United’s MVP year in and year out in the past few seasons.

The Geordie Boys might have seen the last minutes of Dubravka as a Newcastle player if he really ends playing a substantial amount of games in Manchester as the must-buy option would be executed by United then. He is leaving Tyneside having played 130 games over five seasons in Newcastle, 37 of those matches ended in clean sheets taking place as part of the Premier League schedule.

Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images

Federico Fernandez was the only player sold to another club this past Thursday, though that’s not entirely true either as he’s leaving Tyneside on free. The center-back is joining Spanish side Elche after spending the last four years playing for the Magpies on a yearly diminishing basis.

A longtime fan favorite, Fede logged 89 appearances for Newcastle while scoring a couple of goals and donning the captain armband in the spare times Jamaal Lascelles wasn’t available.

Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images

Three other players went out on loan yesterday with their careers still not ripe enough to gran them a place in Newcastle’s first team on a steady basis.

Matty Longstaff (Sean’s brother) is joining League Two side Colchester United until January. Aged 22, Matty already spent time away from SJP last season while playing at Aberdeen on loan and logging five games. He then moved to Mansfield Town during the second half of the season, splitting the year into two different loan spells—pretty much the same thing he’ll most probably have to deal with this campaign.

Another 22-year-old player, Kell Watts, will join Peterborough on loan until January. Watts was one of the young lads to appear on Howe’s side during the first games of the preseason but was a clear piece to be left out of the first-team squad by the deadline.

Finally, Newcastle signed 19-year-old midfielder Lucas De Bolle to a new two-year contract before sending him on loan to Hamilton Academical (from the Scottish Championship) for the remainder of the season. De Bolle just debuted with the first team this past July when he played in the Magpies' win over Athletic Club a little over a month ago. De Bolle has yet to appear in a Premier League game but was on Newcastle’s bench four times last season.

With this, Newcastle’s 25-man squad for the three months between the start of September and January’s transfer window is expected to be comprised of the following players.

Goalkeepers

Pope / Darlow / Gillespie

Defenders

Targett / Manquillo / Dummett / Lewis / Trippier

Botman / Burn / Lascelles / Schar

Midfielders

Joelinton / Bruno / Shelvey / Sean Longstaff

Willock / Anderson (U21) / Ritchie / Murphy

Almiron / Saint-Maximin / Fraser

Forwards

Wilson / Wood / Isak