Newcastle United He couldn't be in better shape right now.
On Sunday, Newcastle came from a goal down to defeat Bromley 3-1 in the match that was held on Sunday. FA Cupwith Louis Miley On target, Anthony Gordon Converting a penalty then William Osula sealed his place in the fourth round.
This is the eighth consecutive victory for the Moroccan national team, which rose to fifth place Premier Leaguewhich will be enough to secure their return to the Champions League, while Eddie Howe's team is also on the cusp of reaching the UEFA Cup final.
This is the club Longest sequence wins As a first division club since March 2005, looking for a ninth successive win when Wolves Visit St James' Park on a Wednesday, most recently in 1994.
However, could January also be a busy month off the field, with reinforcements likely to arrive in the North East?
Newcastle is looking for a new goalkeeper
according to Reports from France via social mediaNewcastle, as well Manchester United, Manchester City and ChelseaThey are all interested in LOSC Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier.
It has been reported previously Which Paris Saint-Germain He wants to make Chevalier the first choice goalkeeper, with coach Luis Enrique not convinced Gianluigi Donnarummaalthough Les Rouge-et-Bleu will face “intense competition” from Premier League clubs.
Sources in Spain Lille are suggested to value the goalkeeper at €40m (around £34m), which could be great value for money, according to a European football expert. Zach Lowe on Twitter Claiming that Chevalier is “the best goalkeeper available on the market”.
How Lucas Chevalier will improve Newcastle
Newcastle have had well-documented goalkeeping issues in recent weeks.
![Focus on moving the FFC header](https://static0.footballfancastimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/ffc-header-transfer-focus.jpg)
Move focus
Big money deals, controversial moves and big name flops. This is the home of Football FanCast transfer news and opinions.
The usual first option Nick Pope Didn't show up Since December 7th because of He suffered a knee injury against Brentford, while Martin Dubravka, who played in the last eight matches, won them all, Possibly on his way To Saudi Arabia's Al-Shabab, with the Magpies looking to cash in, considering the Slovakian only has six months left on his contract.
Then there is the strange case of Odysias Vlachodimus, which he describes Chris Wu and George Culkin from The Athletic As Newcastle's '£20m goalkeeper he didn't want', he joined from Nottingham Forest last summer as both clubs avoided PSR points penalties, with the keeper the first choice for Greece. See only 45 minutes of action At club level this season, he was introduced in the first half of the EFL Cup match against AFC Wimbledon.
However, Bob is the clear number one, when available, so let's see how England Compare International and Chevalier.
Lucas Chevalier vs. Nick Pope (23/24 and 24/25) |
||
---|---|---|
statistics |
Chevalier |
pope |
Appearances |
50 |
30 |
minutes |
4,499 |
2,695 |
Clean sheets |
22 |
8 |
clean windows % |
44% |
26.7% |
Goals conceded in 90 |
0.96 |
1.24 |
Save |
137 |
95 |
Save % |
76.8% |
71.8% |
After the shot xG – Goals conceded |
+7.8 |
+2.4 |
Success completion rate |
76.7% |
73.9% |
As shown in the table, since the start of last season, Chevalier has outperformed Pope in every measure.
The Frenchman has The seventh best participant % more saves than any goalkeeper in Europe's top five leagues, while last season He was ranked 12th for After the shot xG – a number of goals were scored, recording an impressive figure of +5.7, meaning that at just 21 years old, he was the youngest player to finish in the top 45 for this metric.
Post-Shot Expected Goals (PSxG) is a metric used to determine how likely a goalkeeper is to save a shot.
In the Champions League this season, only Paulo Gazzaniga, Caoimhin Kelleher, Emi Martinez and Lukasz Skorupski rank higher than Chevalier in shots after shot – goals conceded, with the Lille goalkeeper being the Also common eight for saves and 7th for saves% (of goalkeepers who appeared in all six matches).
In short, Chevalier is a top-class goalkeeper, and if Newcastle can secure his services, it would be a serious coup.