This future star opens up about playing for Rafa and his Newcastle dreams
The goalkeeper at Newcastle United has been a position of interest this season for the first time since Martin Dubravka grabbed hold of the starting job on loan. After Dubravka entered the season injured, Karl Darlow has started every Premier League match.
While some fans are now clamoring for a return from Dubravka over Darlow, there are also some interesting storylines from a goalkeeper not currently with the club.
After extending his Newcastle United contract, Freddie Woodman is spending another season on loan with Swansea City and he is playing well. With the Swans in third place currently, Woodman has picked up 16 clean sheets in 27 Championship appearances.
In an interview with Chris Waugh of The Athletic, Woodman gave some insight into where he’s at in his career, where he’s been, and where he would like to go.
He talked about returning to Newcastle after his dazzling performance with England in the U-20 World Cup in 2017 and that Rafa complimented him once and that was it. Woodman added that going from winning that tournament and the Golden Glove to playing with the reserves at NUFC was a reality check and a low point in his career.
The young goalkeeper also said Rafa would try to coach him on how to make saves like Pepe Reina and that his dad, a former goalkeeper, disagreed with the instructions.
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Woodman is focused on continuing to excel on loan with Swansea, but his dream still seems very set on becoming the top dog in goal for Newcastle United. He told Waugh, about seeing other goalkeepers star for NUFC, “I think to myself, ‘I’d love to do that, to go out and play in front of 52,000 for such a massive club and rack up the games’.”
It will be interesting to see if Woodman gets a chance to battle for the top spot next season at Newcastle or if he will again head out on loan to remain the top option at a different club.