Newcastle United will be forced to look for a goalkeeper replacement for England international Nick Pope after it was confirmed on Wednesday that the goalkeeper, who suffered a suspected shoulder injury in Sunday’s 1-0 win over Manchester United, will be out of action for the next four months.

After an assessment of the injury, Newcastle United confirmed that the goalkeeper will be out for four months, and Newcastle United has already been linked with former Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea as a potential short-term replacement.

The former Burnley goalkeeper has played in every single minute of Newcastle’s United UEFA Champions League match, but he will now miss their all-important clash against AC Milan that would determine their progress or otherwise to the next stage of the competition.

Pope may also be ruled out of the rest of the season, but Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe believes he can still make it to Euro 2024 in Germany with the Three Lions.

The manager also said that the team is rallying support for the goalkeeper, whom he says they will miss in the coming games.

“He’s naturally down because we’ve got huge games coming up, and he’s got the Euros ahead of him. We’re thinking of him because it’s another strange injury for us. There’s no doubt he needs an operation, so he will be out for a period of time, we think around four months.” Howe said.

The manager denied any link between Newcastle United and a possible move for former Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea, who is currently a free agent.

With Nick Pope’s injury, he joins striker Callum Wilson, winger Harvey Barnes, midfielders Jacob Murphy and Joe Willock, and defenders Sven Botman and Dan Burn among the club’s injury concerns.

Newcastle will travel to Merseyside to face Everton in the Premier League on Thursday.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu