Newcastle United will not be able to recall Karl Darlow from his loan spell at Hull City amid their goalkeeping headache ahead of Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Manchester United at Wembley.
Nick Pope’s red card against Liverpool on Saturday rules him out of the contest with domestic bans applying across all English competitions. Meanwhile, Martin Dubravka is cup-tied after featuring in previous rounds while on loan at United earlier in the season.
Darlow would have likely been third-choice shot-stopper had he not secured a January deadline day switch to Hull City. Even more excruciatingly for Newcastle, the 32-year-old is yet to make his debut for the Championship club.
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Darlow had played in the 2-1 second round win over Tranmere in the League Cup in August, when he became a club centurion when making his 100th first-team appearance. He lists 52 Premier League games and eight Carabao Cup matches on his Magpies CV.
As per Hull Live, no recall clause was attached to his loan to Hull, who are backed to buy him permanently at the end of the season.
Likely starting shot-stopper Loris Karius is yet to make his senior debut for the club having been let go by Liverpool over the summer. He has not played competitively since February 2021 while on loan at Union Berlin.
All three of fourth-choice Mark Gillespie’s club outings have come in the League Cup but he has not played a senior game since September 2020. Speaking after Newcastle’s 2-0 loss to Liverpool, boss Eddie Howe insisted he had “full confidence” in his back-up goalkeepers.
He said: "We've got a decision to make. Mark Gillespie has trained very well this season as has Loris [Karius]. They’ve started games away from competitive action so several friendlies, training games, I’d say they’re both match-ready.
“I know people here won't have seen how they’ve trained but they’ve both been very competitive and been part of the group all season so I’ve got full confidence in both.”
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