Tim Krul is in the Dutch squad for the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers.
Tim Krul – number one goalkeeper next season?
And the 23 year-old was quoted in the Dutch Press last week, as having been told by Newcastle manager Alan Pardew, that he would start next season as the Magpies’ number one goalkeeper.
That’s not consistent with what Pardew has been saying for the last several months, that he still has to decide this summer which goalkeeper will be the starter at Newcastle, and he has Steve Harper, Tim and Fraser Forster to choose from.
So it’s not surprising that Pardew has come out today to clarify the situation:
“I want to underline that I’ve not made any decision about the goalkeepers for next season, other than that I want to see them all in pre-season,”
“The things that have been reported in Holland are not true. Tim will come back with Fraser and Steve to battle it out.”
6’7″ Fraser Forster has had two good seasons out on loan, to Celtic last season, and to Norwich City the season before that.
The 23 year old Hexham-born goalkeeper helped create a new clean sheet record at the Scottish powerhouse last season, with 23 clean sheets in the Scottish Premier League, and of those Forster had 21 of the clean sheets.
In all likelihood Tim Krul will become a full Dutch International this summer, and he’s in the 23-man Dutch squad for friendlies in Uruguay and Brazil, and number one goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg is out injured.
Whichever of the two young Newcastle goalkeepers don’t make it in the summer, that goalkeeper is likely to be sent out on loan, probably to a Championship side. but there is also the chance that Alan Pardew will elect to sell that goalkeeper.
The likelihood is that he will be Fraser Forster, but it’s hard to tell, because Fraser hasn’t even played for the Newcastle first team in a competitive game yet.
Last season Tim Krul played 25 times for Newcastle and Steve Harper played 18 times in Newcastle’s 43 game season, one of the lowest number of games Newcastle have played in for some time.
Comments welcome.
82 comments so far
Cardboy
May 30, 2011 at 3:03 PM
Comment #81I saw Harper let in a few goals this season that I thought he would have previously saved. I’m not saying his time is up but maybe he should be played far more sparingly next season. Krul did make some errors sure but pulled off some really great important saves too. Like a few people point out Forster not yet had a chance to show us what he is really capable of at SJP. Also don’t agree that Best should be our main striker but showed more willingness than Shola generally and therefore still in contention in my view. Three goals in one game against West Ham made his record this season look better than it was for a long while.
oneday
May 30, 2011 at 8:42 PM
Comment #82Pardew clarifies – there’s one for the collection!
Krul can be brilliant but does have too many David James moments. I’d loan him out fo experience and give Foster the same chance as number 2 that Krul has had. Too early to loose either.