Newcastle sign up Forster replacement from Charlton
Posted on August 18th, 2011 | 23 Comments |
It appears we have actually signed a new goalkeeper. Or are about to, depending upon which newspaper you read. There isn’t yet any official confirmation from Newcastle United but I get the impression this is a done deal.
The keeper in question comes in the shape of Rob Elliot, who currently plays for Charlton Athletic. He’s actually played for them since 2004 but was loaned out between 2004 and 2007 to, variously, Bishop’s Stortford, Notts County and Accrington Stanley.
Scaling Elliot would take a 6ft 3in rope, he’s 23 years old and has just over 140 league appearances to his name.
Apparently Ben Hamer has been handed the number 1 shirt at Charlton this season and a lot of Charlton fans expected a possible exit for Elliot.
There have been no reports of a fee yet but he was contracted with Charlton until 2012 so I presume there was one, although I can’t imagine it was much.
Presumably he’s the replacement for Fraser Forster who is leaving us on a season long loan to Celtic again (and supposedly Celtic have some sort of option to buy him after that). I’m not sure where this leaves Ole Soderberg in terms of pecking orders but I would presume that Krul and Harper are still our first choice keepers.
Elliot will have to forgive me for not bubbling with excitement about this but I was rather hoping a left-back or a striker would be our next signing. Still, welcome to Newcastle Rob.
I’ll leave you to mull over the whys and wherefores of loaning out one keeper and signing another.
Seems mad to me. If the club feels it needs an extra keeper in cover then why loan out forster in the first place?