Harper to stay, but Krul is knocking on the door.
Posted on June 24th, 2010 | 126 Comments |
It just seemed strange to me as Harper has been waiting long enough for his chance to be number one at Newcastle, a chance that he was given when Shay left us for Manchester City back in the 08/09 relegation season.
Harper hasn’t looked back since and his form between the sticks has been excellent for us, which has lead to Chris Hughton rubbishing talk of an apparent move to Celtic at the first available opportunity.
Whilst I don’t think that anyone would like to see Harper leave, we mustn’t forget that we have some top young goalkeepers waiting in the wings, with Tim Krul being the next in line to take over from Steve Harper. Krul is getting towards the age where he will want to be playing first team games, which is something that could have been on offer if Harper did move on to pastures new. So how much longer is Krul willing to wait?
Before I delve a bit deeper, here is what Chris Hughton had to say on the whole Harper rumour:
“I can categorically state that there is nothing in that. We just won’t sell him. He’s our No.1 goalkeeper, he had a great season for us and he’s a very important member of our squad.”
That’s pretty much a flat refusal to sell Harper then, and also a statement that he will be our number goalkeeper next season, which is something I think we all knew already anyway. But how will that sit with Tim Krul, who now knows that he is likely to be restricted to cup games and injury cover again?
Not well is my guess, and there have already been some sounds of discontent form the Krul camp regarding his lack of playing time. The Dutch stopper has repeatedly been linked with moves away from Newcastle, and it appears he is very highly rated by managers at other teams, with Alex Ferguson being perhaps the most notable fan of Krul.
I think most of us are aware that Krul has the potential to become a great ‘keeper, and hopefully he will see that he can become a great ‘keeper with us at Newcastle, but I can also understand that perhaps this news may cause some frustration for a young player who is trying to make his name in the game.
Krul has nothing to be disappointed about and has always done well enough we he has been called upon, but it still doesn’t negate the fact that he is paying the price for playing in a position where we have been well stocked for a number of years now, and by all accounts it looks like we will be fine in the goalkeeping sense for some years to come with Fraser Forster also waiting in the wings.
What Krul is going through is a necessary part of the learning process in football, and he must surely know that his chances would always be limited as there is only ever one goalkeeper playing at any time. In Harper, Krul has one of the best characters to learn from, and after the huge wait he has had to endure whilst playing second fiddle to Shay Given, Krul should surely understand that Harper will want to be playing after waiting for his chance for so long?
Your time will come Timmy.
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
i see he never came out like that when all the taylor stories come up!!