Newcastle sign England keeper Pope from Burnley
LONDON: Newcastle have signed England goalkeeper Nick Pope from Burnley in a deal worth a reported £10 million.
Pope agreed a four-year contract with Eddie Howe’s side after passing a medical on Tyneside.
The 30-year-old, who has eight England caps, established himself as one of his country’s top goalkeepers during 141 league appearances for the Clarets.
Newcastle moved for Pope after Burnley were relegated to the Championship last season.
“Now I’m here, I can’t wait to get started,” Pope said on Thursday.
“The deal has taken a couple of weeks to come to fruition, but it got over the line really quickly and I’m delighted to be here and I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into it.”
Pope will provide stiff competition for Newcastle’s current first choice goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.
“Nick is an exceptional Premier League and international level goalkeeper, so I’m very pleased to be adding strong competition to a very important position,” Howe said.
BIGGER WORLD CUP SQUADS
Fifa will allow countries to select up to 26 players for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, increasing the maximum squad size by three for the Nov 21-Dec 18 tournament.
“The number of players to be included on the final list has been increased to at least 23 and a maximum of 26,” Fifa said in a statement.
World football’s governing body said the decision to expand squads was made “given the need to retain additional flexibility due to the unique timing” of this year’s competition, which will interrupt the European club season.