Even though 49ers Enterprises have promised to be ‘aggressive’ in this summer’s transfer window, there’s a lot to be said for being sensible. Karl Darlow has a sensible name, a sensible face, and has cost a sensible £400,000 to sign from Newcastle.
Sometimes that’s all you need from a goalkeeper who may or may not be first choice. Grrrrr!
Despite being almost ten years older than Illan Meslier, Darlow has only played just under seventy more games than young Illan. Meslier has actually made over twice as many Premier League appearances as Darlow.
After a couple of short spells on loan at Newport and Walsall, Darlow established himself as Nottingham Forest’s number one. His reputation as one of the Championship’s best young goalkeepers earned him a move to the Premier League with Newcastle, but they only trusted him as first choice after they were relegated back to the second tier. Having become one of five goalkeepers on the books at Newcastle, Darlow spent the second half of last season back in the Championship on loan at Hull City.
His CV doesn’t scream ‘multi-million pound replacement for Meslier’, which seemed to be the case after a rumoured £5m move to Bournemouth broke down, but once it was revealed the fee was closer to a few hundred grand it was hard to argue against a decent value transfer.
Plenty. Darlow has played more times against Leeds than any other club, going unbeaten in his first five appearances until Leeds pulled Newcastle’s pants down twice in our first season back in the Premier League — our 5-2 win at Elland Road remains the most goals Darlow has conceded in a top-flight fixture, not that he could do much about Jackie Harrison’s arrow into the top corner.
Even when he was busy winning the Championship, Darlow had the good grace to get out of the way of Chris Wood’s stoppage-time equaliser at Newcastle during Leeds’ play-off push under Garry Monk, although he was a lot more annoying in the 1-1 draw at St James’ Park at the start of Marcelo Bielsa’s final season.
There’s nothing wrong with being sensible, but there’s always room for excitement. I for one can’t wait for Darlow to recreate this at Elland Road before going full Joel Robles, turning around and telling the Kop to calm down.
Never forget.
Farewell, Karl Darlow.#NUFC pic.twitter.com/RjSh4Dehup
— DailyNUFC (@DailyNUFC_) July 28, 2023
When Darlow arrived at Thorp Arch for his first training session with Leeds, I wonder how long it was before Pat Bamford reminded him of the East Midlands derby in March 2014. Derby annihilated Notts Forest 5-0, with Bamford playing against his boyhood club and buying a penalty out of Darlow for the final goal.
Forest were managed by Billy Davies at the time, so these things happen. A more personally bruising episode for Darlow came at the end of Newcastle’s promotion season, when he was dropped for the run-in by Rafa Benitez after being first choice for the majority of the campaign.
Despite sitting pretty in the top two, Newcastle had a classically Leeds wobble over Easter, losing at Sheffield Wednesday, dropping points at home to Chris Wood’s equaliser, then losing 3-1 at Ipswich. A poor clearance from Darlow had led to Ipswich’s second goal, and Benitez said his team “were not mentally ready”. They had the chance to secure promotion in their next game, and Darlow was one of five players to lose their place against Preston, watching from the bench as Newcastle celebrated promotion and clinched the title in their next two fixtures, which left him contemplating his future at the club:
“The back end of last season was probably the toughest, after doing quite a lot of the hard work, if you like, getting us to where we were. So that was tough to take but that’s football – these things happen now and again. The manager has his ideas and whatever he was thinking is what he was thinking – I couldn’t change that. You have to learn to cope with difficult scenarios, and when it’s going well, just enjoy it.
“It was about looking to the summer, really. I wanted the lads to win the league after what we’d done, so it was more a push of staying silent in the background and keeping working, and let the lads bring the title home for us, which was a fantastic end to the season and something we thoroughly deserved. It was more a case of supporting them, and taking a bit of a step backwards and playing a different part in the squad.”
Given Darlow was still with the Newcastle squad on their pre-season tour of the States 24 hours before he signed for Leeds and went straight up to Scotland for our friendly with Hearts a day later, there wasn’t much time to give him the glamour announcement, although I’d be quite happy if all football clubs announced new signings like this:
👀👋😂 @KarlDarlow pic.twitter.com/0lWGfhNaB3
— Leeds United (@LUFC) July 30, 2023
Being as sensible as his record suggests is all Leeds need from a goalkeeper right now. If Darlow’s arrival can provide the competition that gets the best out of Illan Meslier again, that might prove to be his most valuable asset. He might have some simple lessons to teach Illan; when he was still just a teenager, he was asked what techniques he uses to focus for a full ninety minutes:
“Normally just set myself a target to get through to 45 minutes preferably with a clean sheet, if not and I let a goal in then I’m determined to make it just that one goal, if another goal goes in then just to make it two goals and so on and so forth. Then just carry on through the match.”
It’s reassuring to find out he knows what the essence of goalkeeping is all about. ⬢
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