Newcastle United made an approach for Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel in the summer, before signing Lukas Hornicek.
The Magpies brought in Hornicek from Braga in a €30.6m deal at the end of August as they sought out a long-term replacement for Nick Pope.
The goalkeeping position had become something of a problem for them in the latter days of Eddie Howe’s reign.
Hornicek, 24, was seen as the suitable long-term replacement and enjoyed a solid start to life at St James Park under Mathias Jaissle. But that perception has now changed as he’s managed just two clean sheets in 10 Premier League games, conceding 16 goals.
What Newcastle United have done
And it seems he was not the first choice either. SportBILD report that Kobel was at the top of Newcastle’s summer shopping list.
The German outlet states that Newcastle United reached out for the Switzerland goalkeeper during the summer transfer window.
The Magpies even offered a concrete contract to the goalkeeper that would have earned him approximately €3m per year more than he currently earns. He earns €10m a year at Dortmund so, he would have been on €13m a year in the North East. That’s around €250,000 a week.
Kobel, though, wasn’t interested. He thought that the ‘sporting outlook’ appeared to be too uncertain.
That’s proven to be a smart assessment as questions are asked about the side, who currently sit 12th in the table with just one win in their last five and three points separating them from the bottom three.
Where things now stand
The focus at Dortmund is now on securing the goalkeeper to a new deal as soon as possible. His current contract runs until 2028.
The leadership team at Dortmund have already decided internally to initiate talks in the coming weeks. Kobel is viewed as the clear number one for the years ahead.
He is open to staying at the club, but putting pen to paper on that deal is far from a foregone conclusion. Indeed, there is every chance that talks could be long and complicated.
They certainly won’t be helped by Newcastle’s efforts in the summer. That put a big valuation on their number one and showed him that big wages are possible elsewhere. That is surely something he will use to his advantage as talks get underway.
