Nick Pope did not play a single minute of England's four UEFA Nations League games last summer yet it proved one of the most significant camps of the goalkeeper's career. It was during that fortnight away that the 31-year-old got the inside track on life at Newcastle United.
Although Pope was already keen on a move to St James' Park, following Burnley's relegation to the Championship, Kieran Trippier 'really sold' the switch to him after the Newcastle standard bearer spoke 'incredibly highly of everything that's going on'. From the club's ambitions and the intensity of training under Eddie Howe to life in the North East and playing in front of those fans every week, Pope got the answers he needed. It was far from a coincidence that the subsequent transfer was completed just 10 days after England's final game of the window against Hungary.
Twelve months on, James Maddison, like Pope, is pondering his future after the England international's side, Leicester City, also went down. Maddison, like Pope, is well-aware of Eddie Howe's interest having previously joked how it was 'three on one with the Newcastle boys' during the World Cup following a 'bit of speculation' last summer.
