One former Newcastle United player had a match to forget for his new Premier League side this weekend.
There has been a lot said about Newcastle United’s goalkeeping department this season with five keepers currently on the books at St James’ Park.
In what was a frustrating summer window for Newcastle, the club signed two new goalkeepers in John Ruddy and Odysseas Vlachodimos, who arrived in a £20m deal from Nottingham Forest.
Forest allowed Odysseas Vlachodimos to leave for Newcastle knowing they had enough depth in the goalkeeper position for the 2024/25 season.
That is because the Forest signed Matz Sels in February, six years after his nightmare stint at Newcastle came to an end.
Newcastle United’s Goalkeeper Matt Sels (28) during the Sky Bet Championship match between Newcastle United and Huddersfield Town at St.James Park …
Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images
Matz Sels is a Newcastle United flop
Newcastle paid £6.5m to sign Sels from Gent in 2016, but the Belgian failed to live up to expectations.
He arrived under Rafa Benitez after Newcastle’s relegation to the Championship, and the size of the fee suggested he was set to become the club’s first-choice goalkeeper.
That did turn out to be the case – but only for nine games. Sels started the opening nine fixtures to Newcastle’s league campaign in the second tier but was eventually dropped for Karl Darlow after failing to impress.
Newcastle overcame their poor start with Sels to finish that season as champions, but their £6.5m goalkeeper signing spent the majority of his time out of the team. Sels was subsequently loaned out to Anderlecht following Newcastle’s promotion.
Matz Sels has nightmare performance for Nottingham Forest
Now at Forest, Sels has started the season as their first-choice goalkeeper under Nuno Espirito Santo.
He has kept two clean sheets so far in the 2024/25 campaign, including their 1-0 win over Liverpool last week.
But when Forest faced Brighton on Sunday afternoon, Sels showed glimpses of what Newcastle fans will remember from 2016.
After taking the lead through Chris Wood, Brighton stunned Forest with two goals in three minutes to lead at the break.
The second came from a Danny Welbeck free-kick. The 33-year-old curled his effort around the wall and into the far corner.
Roy Keane was far from pleased with what he saw and suggested that Selz should be fined for such a mistake.
Via Sky Sports [September 22, 3:02pm], Keane said: “Sels should be fined a week’s wages [for that second Brighton goal].
“You cannot be beaten on that side. It’s so poor! He took a gamble.”
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