Veteran Newcastle man now linked with loan move to Championship club

We are still not exactly sure what the thinking has been behind some of Newcastle United's transfer decisions so far this summer.

Specifically, why have we brought in two goalkeepers, one of which is older than St James' Park?

Signing a new 'keeper was on the list this summer, but while we were once looking at Giorgi Mamardashvili and Filip Jorgensen we soon downgraded to James Trafford and then ultimately ended up with John Ruddy and Odysseas Vlachodimos while rumours persist that the Magpies are still looking at Trafford.

Martin Dubravka is likely to leave this summer, but his proposed move to Celtic is seemingly dead in the water now after the Scottish champions signed Kasper Schmeichel, so now we're not sure what will happen with Dubravka.

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We are baffled by Newcastle's goalkeeper situation

Nick Pope looks set to reprise his role as first-choice and it looks as though Vlachodimos will be his understudy - frankly if it's true that we paid Nottingham Forest £20million, he should be replacing Pope and should be damn good at it too but that's by the by.

Mark Gillespie ... exists, and 37-year-old veteran John Ruddy has come in to ... train? Who knows?

However, The Sunday Sun (h/t Geordie Boot Boys) is reporting that Ruddy is a loan target for Blackburn Rovers.

Ruddy signed a one-year contract at Newcastle

Given that Ruddy only signed a one-year deal at Newcastle, the idea of loaning him out for that year doesn't make sense at all.

But then, none of this has made sense. If we were playing in Europe next season then Ruddy would presumably have been our Scott Carson - a homegrown player to beef up the numbers, but we aren't, so that rules that out.

If we needed a goalkeeper to push Oddy and Pope in training then what is Mark Gillespie actually for and why did we just offer him a new contract?

Honestly, we've been trying for weeks to work this out but we've made absolutely no headway into making sense of having five goalkeepers while still potentially working on a deal for a sixth. Help us!