Newcastle contacted Carl Rushworth's agent last week and were told his priority is Coventry. The Brighton goalkeeper wants a permanent return to Coventry, which turns this into a transfer race rather than a simple chase from Newcastle.
Coventry's pull
Rushworth's case at Coventry is pretty clear. He kept 17 clean sheets in 46 games for the club last season and was named in the Championship Team of the Year. He is also in the final 12 months of his Brighton contract.
TEAMtalk sources say talks between Brighton and Coventry are progressing positively, with the finer details now the main focus rather than whether a move happens at all. Coventry are increasingly confident of signing him, and Brighton want protection in the deal, including a buy-back clause and a substantial sell-on percentage.
Newcastle's goalkeeping picture
The other reason this is not a straightforward Newcastle move is that their goalkeeping situation is already crowded. Nick Pope has been retained on the squad list and handed the number 1 jersey again, while Newcastle have also spent £24m on Ewen Jaouen from Reims.
Pope said there was "no doubt in my mind about playing for anyone but Newcastle United" and added that he could "quite easily finish my career with Newcastle". He also said there will always be goalkeepers linked with Newcastle, whoever it is. That fits the wider picture here, because the club are still being linked with more options, including Aaron Ramsdale, even as Rushworth looks elsewhere.
A recent ChronicleLive report also noted Pope's 7.2 average in his last five Premier League matches, which is hardly the profile of a goalkeeper forcing Newcastle into an urgent change. Coventry's advantage is the simpler one: they know Rushworth, they want him, and he wants them.
The next step is Brighton and Coventry working through the final details of the deal.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 5 outlets. How we work →
