The mystery £20m Newcastle United signing – What happens next? | OneFootball

It was the mystery Newcastle United signing.

The club paying £20m for a player in a position that didn’t really make any sense.

Then widely reported that this big summer signing would be heading out on loan.

However, that hasn’t happened and the £20m Newcastle United signing has been included in the official NUFC 25 man senior Premier League squad (see below) for the first half of this 2024/25 season.

So what will now happen with mystery Newcastle United signing, Odysseas Vlachodimos?

As I say, the 30 year old is one of FIVE goalkeepers named in the senior NUFC 25 man Premier League squad, Pope Gillespie, Ruddy, Dubravka and Odysseas Vlachodimos.

In the matches so far, the pecking order appears to have been clear with Nick Pope obviously number one, then Martin Dubravka, whilst when the Slovakian picked up a concussion in training, it was John Ruddy who was on the bench at Bournemouth and Forest.

So will that change now? Will Odysseas Vlachodimos be number three, or even number two, now that he appears to be staying at NUFC, at least for the time being?

The Greek keeper getting left out altogether of the first four Newcastle United matchday squads, could of course have been simply because it was expected he was going out on loan elsewhere, or even be sold on immediately? There is also the rule of not being able to play for more than two clubs in any season.

So much about the Elliot Anderson and Odysseas Vlachodimos double deal was puzzling.

Yes, we know of course, that the deal(s) happened to help both clubs stay within PSR limits, but you have to wonder at the widely reported transfer fees.

As Newcastle United fans, we all know that Elliot Anderson could potentially turn out to be a very good player. However, having started only 13 Premier League matches in his fledgling career, was he really worth £35m? More to the point, does this in some way have to be sanctioned by the Premier League as a fair and proper transfer fee? Put it this way, if any of us had heard that Elliot Anderson had been sold at that point and had to guess what the transfer fee was, fair to say not many fans would have come close to £35m, in terms of a club paying for what they had seen so far of the 21 year old.

As for a 30 year old Odysseas Vlachodimos, even more so.

I think some of the comments from Newcastle United fans and those in the media have been very disrespectful. A goalkeeper who played so many matches at a decent level for Benfica, including Champions League, is the Greece number one, yet it appears that a lot of the over the top negativity comes from the five Premier League matches he played for Nottingham Forest and what their fans have said about Odysseas Vlachodimos.

At first, I saw media claims that Newcastle United had paid £4m for Odysseas Vlachodimos, as part of this PSR double deal with Forest. However, that didn’t appear to make a lot of sense, in terms of helping Forest with their PSR, having paid a reported £7m to Benfica in summer 2023. Any PSR benefit would be minimal at best.

What made far more sense, at least from the PSR perspective, was when it then became reported that it was actually £20m Newcastle United had paid for Odysseas Vlachodimos, with Forest thus agreeing the £35m to Newcastle for Anderson.

However, if Forest paid £7m for a 29 year old Odysseas Vlachodimos in summer 2023, how can you then be justifying a £20m fee for a 30 year old Odysseas Vlachodimos in summer 2024, after not distinguishing himself in five Premier League appearances for Forest?

Newcastle United are relative latecomers to this PSR transfer party, where clubs experiencing PSR pressures have been seen to team up and put together signings heading in both directions between the clubs.

Interesting to see what happens next.

Maybe summer 2025 will see Newcastle United sell Odysseas Vlachodimos for £50m back to Nottingham Forest, with Elliot Anderson returning in a £70m deal.

Nothing would surprise me these days…

Premier League official announcement – 13 September 2024:

Newcastle United’s 25-man squad for the first half of the season is as follows:

25 Squad players (*Home grown) 1 Almiron Rejala, Miguel Angel 2 Apolinario De Lira, Joelinton Cassio 3 Barnes, Harvey Lewis* 4 Botman, Sven Adriaan 5 Burn, Daniel Johnson* 6 Dubravka, Martin 7 Gillespie, Mark Joseph* 8 Gordon, Anthony Michael* 9 Guimaraes Rodriguez Moura, Bruno 10 Isak, Alexander 11 Kelly, Lloyd Casius* 12 Krafth, Emil Henry Kristoffer 13 Lascelles, Jamaal* 14 Livramento, Valentino* 15 Longstaff, Sean David* 16 Murphy, Jacob Kai* 17 Pope, Nicholas David* 18 Ruddy, John Thomas Gordon* 19 Schar, Fabian Lukas 20 Targett, Matthew Robert* 21 Tonali, Sandro 22 Trippier, Kieran John* 23 Vlachodimos, Odysseas 24 Willock, Joseph George* 25 Wilson, Callum Eddie Graham*

U21 players (Contract and Scholars) 1 Anderson, Will Robert 2 Bailey, Scott Patrick 3 Bloomer, Guy Thomas 4 Brayson, Joe 5 Bryant, Thomas Jon 6 Charlton, Dylan Harry 7 Cogdon, Jude Anthony 8 Craggs, Luke Steven 9 Donaldson, Josh Kevin 10 Durrant, Jake Thomas 11 Emerson, Johnny William 12 Epia, Aaron Ovie 13 Finneran, Rory James 14 Hall, Lewis 15 Harris, Aidan Francis 16 Harrison, Adam Alan 17 Harrison, Alfie JJ 18 Heffernan, Cathal Sean 19 Hernes, Travis Enrique 20 Huntley, James Alan 21 Janusz, Adrian Dariusz 22 Johnson, Henry William 23 Jones, Tyler Stuart 24 Kuol, Garang 25 Lucas, Kayden 26 McArthur, Charlie Walter 27 Miley, Jamie 28 Miley, Lewis 29 Munda, Anthony Junior 30 Murphy, Alex 31 Neave, Sean Thomas 32 O’Donovan, Alexander John 33 Osula, William Idamudia Daugaard 34 Palmer, Darren Joseph Zabid 35 Parkinson, Ben 36 Pivas, Miodrag 37 Powell, Harry Llewelyn 38 Powell, Rory Dalgleish 39 Rodrigues Ferreira, Matheos 40 Sanusi, Trevan Farooq 41 Sedibeh Sidibeh, Muhamadou 42 Shahar, Leo Oren 43 Stanton, Ellis Christopher 44 Taylor, James David 45 Taylor, Matthew David 46 Thompson, Ciaran James 47 Thompson, Max Anthony 48 Tika-Lemba, Ezra Gabriel Mekhi 49 Turner-Cooke, Jay 50 Waddani, Mohammed 51 Watts, Logan Mathew 52 Wooster, Kacey Robert Mikie