Now reported an agreement in principle for Martin Dubravka to move to the Saudi Pro League – A bit unlikely?

Martin Dubravka could be on his way to the Saudi Pro League in January.

This is reported by the media source Arriyadiyah in Saudi Arabia.

They claim an ‘agreement in principle’ is already in place for the Newcastle United goalkeeper to join Al-Shabab.

Al-Shabab have seen their South Korean international goalkeeper Kim Seung-Gyu suffer a second cruciate ligament injury this season, meaning he will be out for the long term.

Abdullah Al-Mayouf has taken his place in recent games ahead of the January 2025 transfer window.

Arriyadiyah say Al-Shabab have explored the possibility of signing either Keylor Navas or Martin Dubravka to come in as their number one.

Navas, 38, is a free agent after leaving PSG this summer, but this report indicates that it is Martin Dubravka who Al-Shabab have decided they want to sign.

As things stand, Martin Dubravka is out of contract at Newcastle United on June 30, 2025, and this reported “deal in principle” would have made a lot of sense a week or so ago.

However, it is hard to see that with Nick Pope’s knee injury, Newcastle United would now consider letting Martin Dubravka leave in January.

That is unless they maybe offered serious money in the form of a transfer fee, which is hard to believe would be the case.

It was Dubravka and not Vlachodimos who came in for Pope on Saturday, so the Slovakian looks set to make the team.

The first estimates are that Nick Pope will be out for a month, but knee injuries can prove to be very unpredictable.

Also for Martin Dubravka, any chance of Pope’s injury could also be seen as a game changer for him. Especially with cup of glory an option. Back in 2023, Martin Dubravka missed out on playing in the Carabao Cup final after already playing in the competition that season while on loan at Man U. Loris Karius got the chance instead due to Pope’s one-match ban.

Exclusive media from Saudi Arabia could well be true, but potentially the circumstances have now changed things significantly.

They report that the final details need to be sorted before final agreement is reached on a move to Al-Shabab for Martin Dubravka and an official announcement that the deal is happening.

It was possible that all parties, both clubs and the player himself, were willing to agree.

However, I would think it is now very very unlikely to happen, with the injury to Nick Pope.

If Odysseas Vlachodimos had started against Leicester on Saturday, I would have thought that the possibility of Martin Dubravka moving in January, whether to the Saudi Pro League or elsewhere, would have been very likely.

Now that’s definitely not going to happen.