On Friday, reports across the media in Portugal stated that Lukas Hornicek was going to be joining Newcastle United.
With the transfer imminent, the goalkeeper was left out of the Sporting Braga matchday squad against Zeleznicar Pancevo on Thursday night, in his absence Sporting Braga won 4-0 in the Conference League qualifier.
The giant keeper has a €30m (approx £25.9m) release clause and Hull City triggered that release clause this summer but the Sporting Braga keeper then turned them down.
On Friday, the Portuguese media were all in agreement that Newcastle United had now triggered the release clause and Lukas Hornicek saying yes to NUFC.
They reported that he was set to fly to Tyneside to take his medical and become the new number one Newcastle United keeper.
There has now been a slight change to that. None of the media in Portugal are saying that the transfer isn’t happening but Record are reporting that their information is that Lukas Hornicek isn’t travelling to Tyneside, instead he is going to take his medical in La Manga and then as soon as that is completed he will sign his contract and join the NUFC squad to train in Spain.
The 6ft 6 goalkeeper is a Czech Republic international who turned 24 in July and has had a huge breakthrough year.
He became first choice for Sporting Braga and helped them to finish fourth in the domestic league, reach the semi-finals of the Europa League, as well as runners-up in the Portuguese League Cup. In the process he managed 24 clean sheets across all competitions, including 11 in the Europa League.
The 6ft 6 goalkeeper made his debut for the Czech Republic in May, on the back of his outstanding club season. Lukas Hornicek an unused sub in the three Czech Republic matches at the World Cup this summer.
If/when Lukas Hornicek is officially confirmed as a Newcastle United player, he will become the fifth signing of the summer. Following Ewen Jaouen, Bazoumana Toure, Sean Steur and Aladji Bamba through the door. The near £26m transfer fee will also take the summer spending beyond the £150m mark.