Newcastle United could hardly be in better form right now.
On Sunday, the Magpies fought back from a goal down to beat Bromley 3-1 in the FA Cup, with Lewis Miley on target, Anthony Gordon converting a penalty and then William Osula rubber-stamping their place in round four.
That was an eighth successive victory for the Magpies, who’ve moved up to fifth in the Premier League, which would be enough to secure their Champions League return, while Eddie Howe’s team are also on the cusp of reaching the EFL Cup Final.
This is the club’s longest winning sequence as a top-flight club since March 2005, going in search of a ninth consecutive victory when Wolves visit St James’ Park on Wednesday, most recently achieving that in 1994.
However, could January also prove to be a busy month off the field, with reinforcements potentially on their way to the North East?
Newcastle in the market for a new goalkeeper
According to reports from France via social media, Newcastle, as well as Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea, are all interested in LOSC Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier.
It has been previously reported that Paris Saint-Germain want to make Chevalier their first-choice goalkeeper, with manager Luis Enrique unconvinced by Gianluigi Donnarumma, although les Rouge-et-Bleu will face ‘tough competition’ from Premier League clubs.
Sources in Spain suggest Lille value their goalkeeper at €40m (around £34m), which could prove great value for money, with European football expert Zach Lowy on Twitter claiming Chevalier is “the best goalkeeper available on the market”.
How Lucas Chevalier would improve Newcastle
Newcastle have faced well-documented goalkeeper issues in recent weeks.
Transfer Focus
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Usual first-choice Nick Pope hasn’t featured since 7 December due to a knee injury suffered against Brentford, while Martin Dúbravka, who’s deputised for the last eight matches, all of which they’ve won, is potentially on his way to Saudi Pro League side Al-Shabab, with the Magpies looking to cash-in, considering the Slovakian has just six months left on his contract.
Then there is the strange case of Odysseas Vlachodimos, described by Chris Waugh and George Caulkin of the Athletic as the “£20m goalkeeper Newcastle didn’t want”, joining from Nottingham Forest last summer as both clubs avoided PSR points penalties, with Greece’s number one seeing just 45 minutes of action at club level this season, introduced at half time of an EFL Cup tie against AFC Wimbledon.
Nevertheless, Pope is the clear number one, when available, so let’s see how the England international and Chevalier compare.
Appearances
50
30
Minutes
4,499
2,695
Clean sheets
22
8
Clean sheet %
44%
26.7%
Goals conceded per 90
0.96
1.24
Saves
137
95
Save %
76.8%
71.8%
Post-shot xG – goals conceded
+7.8
+2.4
Pass completion %
76.7%
73.9%
As outlined in the table, since the start of last season, Chevalier has outperformed Pope in every metric.
The Frenchman has the joint-seventh best save % of any goalkeeper across Europe’s “top five” leagues while, last season, he was ranked 12th for post-shot xG – goals conceded, recording a very impressive figure of +5.7, meaning, at just 21-years-old, he was the youngest player to finish in the top 45 for this metric.
Post-shot expected goals (PSxG) is a metric used to determine how likely a goalkeeper is to save a shot.
In this season’s Champions League meantime, only Paulo Gazzaniga, Caoimhín Kelleher, Emi Martínez and Łukasz Skorupski rank higher than Chevalier for post-shot xG – goals conceded, with Lille’s goalkeeper is also joint-eight for saves and seventh for save % (of goalkeepers who’ve featured on all six matchdays).
In short, Chevalier is a top-class goalkeeper and, if Newcastle are able to secure his services, it would be a serious coup.
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