Odysseas Vlachodimos has reportedly turned down January transfer offer despite being unwanted at Newcastle United

 · January 21 2025, 17:30
Odysseas Vlachodimos has reportedly turned down January transfer offer despite being unwanted at Newcastle United
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The move of Odysseas Vlachodimos from Nottingham Forest to Newcastle United will go down as one of the more bizarre transfers the Magpies have ever done.

Greek international goalkeeper Vlachodimos moved to Newcastle from Nottingham Forest in the summer as part of the deal that saw hot prospect Elliot Anderson go the other way.

It was then later discovered that Newcastle had paid £20 million for Vlachodimos but clearly nobody at the club actually wanted him, as evidenced by his complete lack of game time under Eddie Howe.

While Martin Dubravka has been the goalkeeper edging ever closer to the exit door, it is baffling how this £20 million mistake is still at the club.

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Odysseas Vlachodimos has rejected a move away from Newcastle

Now that it looks like Martin Dubravka is set to stay on Tyneside at least for the remainder of the season, the club to which he seemed destined to move, Al-Shabab turned their attention to Odysseas Vlachodimos and made Newcastle an offer for the Greek 'keeper.

However, much like Miguel Almiron last January, the 30-year-old rejected the opportunity to move to Saudi Arabia, saying he'd prefer to remain in Europe according to Fabrizio Romano.

Newcastle look to be stuck with Odysseas for now as the move from Al-Shabab was the first inkling we've had that anyone was interested.

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Half the season gone and we still can't work out what's going on with our goalkeepers

Newcastle are extremely unlikely to recoup their outlay on Vlachodimos having spent £20 million as part of the PSR-busting quasi-swap deal, but just getting him off the books seems to be the plan right now.

Eddie Howe is still looking for a new, young goalkeeper to stick around for the future with James Trafford the most likely candidate to fill that void, but first we need to cut down our abundance of goalkeepers and we also need some clarity on the future of Martin Dubravka.

If Dubravka plans to leave when his contract is up in the summer then holding on to Odysseas actually makes sense.

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