Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce will discover today whether Martin Dubravka will be fit enough for the start of the new season. The Slovakia international suffered a foot injury at Euro 2020 and has since gone under the knife to resolve the problem. Bruce pulled back Freddie Woodman from a deal to join AFC Bournemouth as he needed cover for Dubravka, but has since been forced to sideline Karl Darlow for a positive Covid result while Mark Gillespie and Woodman were forced into self-isolation. When asked about Dubravka’s chances of starting the season,
Steve Bruce said: “Martin picked up a foot injury with his country at the Euros, and is having an operation. We’ll not know how bad that is until tomorrow. Karl Darlow, unfortunately, picked up Covid. So we felt it best that the people who were close to him, ie during dinner, self-isolate, so we pulled them out of the group. The group has been tested for the last three days. Thankfully everybody else is negative. It shows you we’re not immune to it. We’ve tried our utmost, but it still lingers around, which is difficult to manage.”
Woodman was understandably disappointed to see his move to Bournemouth fall through at the 11th hour last week. Having sat a medical, he was due to board the plane for the Cherries’ pre-season training camp in Marbella. But once Newcastle learned of Dubravka’s operation the move was halted.
Steve Bruce said: “I understand Freddie will be a little bit disappointed at this moment but I’ve got to do what’s best for Newcastle and I’ll always do that. The club comes first.”
