It’s been a year of outgoings for long-serving Newcastle United players in 2025.
We saw Sean Longstaff leave for Leeds, Callum Wilson was released before joining West Ham on a free, and forgotten man Isaac Hayden also bid farewell.
Another Mag who departed was Martin Dubravka, who was back on Tyneside last weekend as we beat his new club Burnley 2-1.
Ahead of that match, Dubravka spoke openly in an in-depth interview with The Times, revealing how he felt let down by Eddie Howe at the start of 2025, with the Slovakian denied a move to Saudi side Al-Shabab and then dropped.
“I went to speak with Eddie and explained the situation. He said, ‘Yeah, I respect what you’ve done for Newcastle, we will let you go.’ ”
“My agent said, ‘They can’t let you go now because they need you for the cup tie at Arsenal [January 7 2025]. After the cup [run] you can go.”
“They were leaving from the terminal ten minutes before we [the Newcastle squad] were leaving for London. Everyone saw. I was travelling with two big suitcases with me.
“This was it, the last dance. To beat Arsenal at their stadium, in a semi-final, wow. We were clapping the fans and Dan [Burn] pushed me to say goodbye. I will never forget that moment.”
“I said bye to everyone and then I spoke to the gaffer to say goodbye and he told me he was going to give me a call the next day, so I was confused. I was going to travel to Riyadh the next day.
“When the gaffer called me he said it doesn’t really make sense to let you go because it’s a semi-final and Nick is not back. I said, ‘You said you would let me go.’ I was still in a hotel in London. I felt ill because of the stress.
“Then Eddie called me and said, ‘No, we can’t let you go now because we need you and we’re going to offer you a new contract.’ I was mentally already in Saudi Arabia. Our home in Newcastle was empty.”
Dubravka then continued, revealing how he signed a new deal, denying him a lucrative move to the Middle East, only to be told he would not play in the cup final.
This was clearly a kick in the teeth for the goalkeeper after his impressive run in the side, with Dubravka “shocked” at Howe’s decision given he’d just signed a new deal after his proposed move to Saudi was blocked:
“I came back on Friday and played against Bromley [in the FA cup third round] the next day. After the game I spoke with the club and they offered me a new contract. You cannot compare the contract in Saudi financially with the one in Newcastle, but for me it was always Newcastle first and I was delighted to stay.
“Everything was smooth and we signed the deal. It was official on the Thursday, and then on the Saturday Eddie dropped me!
“I didn’t expect that because I just signed a new deal with Newcastle instead of one which would completely secure my life in Saudi Arabia. I was shocked. We had a conversation after the game, and it was not a nice conversation.”
“It was the day before the final and Eddie called me and told me he was going with Nick. I felt like I deserved to play. I worked hard to get there. I still watched with so much passion, though, because I wanted us to win.”
“When the final whistle went I ran with the goalkeeper coach, Adam Bartlett, and he slipped and I fell over and we were just hugging each other on the floor.”
A shame that his Newcastle career ended like this, but Howe’s cup final call was justified in the end and Dubravka was given a warm reception on his return over the weekend, seeing him take in warm applause at the Gallowgate End after the full-time whistle.
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