Nick Pope may not have been a Newcastle United player at the time, but the goalkeeper played his part in the Magpies' turnaround last season. Well, sort of.
It was Pope who uncharacteristically dropped Joe Willock's cross under pressure at St James' Park back in December and Callum Wilson made the Burnley shot-stopper pay as Newcastle picked up their first win of the campaign. In reality, that was a rare mistake from Pope; there were certainly no sleepless nights when Newcastle considered making a bid for the England international several months later.
The move may have come as a surprise, but there is an element of opportunism to it, even if Pope has long been admired by Howe and his backroom staff. Pope, after all, is available for a fraction of the price the goalkeeper would have commanded a year ago and relegated Burnley, who are due to pay back a portion of a £65m loan, need the funds.
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Howe has been more open to signing younger alternatives from the continent this summer, because they won't be parachuted into an immediate relegation battle like they would have been in January, but the Newcastle boss has also been keen to bring in Premier League experience for certain key positions so that these players immediately hit the ground running.
After already making left-back Matt Targett's loan move permanent, Howe has now moved for Pope, who has made 141 appearances in the top-flight to date - nearly three times as many as Karl Darlow. That top-flight experience should help make it a seamless switch for Pope, who is set to undergo a medical on Thursday, and the shot-stopper already knows Chris Wood and Jeff Hendrick particularly well from their time together at Burnley as well as Kieran Trippier from England duty.
Although Pope is 30, which does not exactly lower the average age of the squad, that is a prime age for a goalkeeper and the England international may well be the only player Newcastle sign this summer who is in his thirties.
So why have Newcastle turned to Pope? Well, it certainly did not go unnoticed how Newcastle struggled without number one Martin Dubravka before Howe was even appointed last November.
While Newcastle's leaky defence did Freddie Woodman and Darlow few favours, the fact is the Magpies conceded 27 goals in their opening 12 league games last season, picking up just six points in the process. Given how Dubravka has only played 39 top-flight fixtures in the last two seasons, because of a range of injury issues, Howe could ill-afford to take a risk and not strengthen the goalkeeping department after he allowed Woodman to join Preston North End.
Pope will certainly give Dubravka a fresh challenge. In fact, it is easy to forget that Pope started three World Cup qualifiers in a row for England little more than a year ago before suffering an untimely knee injury, which ruled him out of Euro 2020.
These are very different goalkeepers and characters and comparing their stats from last season gives you an idea how. It is worth noting that Dubrakva played 10 games fewer than Pope in the Premier League last season so that skews the data somewhat, as Dubravka conceded fewer goals (35) but Pope kept more clean sheets (nine). Having faced more shots, Pope, perhaps unsurprisingly, made more saves (116) and had a better save percentage (73.6%).
Most strikingly, when rushing off his line to cut out the danger, Pope had 63 defensive actions outside his penalty area compared to Dubravka's nine, which is perhaps the biggest difference. That will no doubt have piqued Howe's interest in bringing in more of a sweeper 'keeper who also happens to be a renowned shot-stopper.
Pope's distribution has always been questioned but Howe, a football obsessive, kept an eye on how Burnley's style changed slightly under interim boss Mike Jackson, noting how the goalkeeper was not always launching the ball forward like he often did under predecessor Sean Dyche. Pope has certainly shown a different side of his game in that time.
As Newcastle's style evolves under Howe - Newcastle tended to squeeze the pitch and use Chris Wood as a target man last season while Callum Wilson was injured - expect either Dubravka or Pope to go short more often and for the centre-backs to split. The pair will relish that adjustment and, indeed, going up against each other for that number one spot.
Howe, after all, was acutely aware of the need to sign a goalkeeper who would push Dubravka - Pope previously fought it out with Tom Heaton at Burnley for many years - but, also, an individual who would not disrupt the dressing room. It goes without saying that character reports compiled on Pope were all positive and the goalkeeper's determination has always stood out, whether it was bouncing back after being released by boyhood club Ipswich at 16 or handling some testing moments during six loan spells in the lower leagues.
It is important to stress that Howe remains a huge fan of Dubravka but, by the same token, the Newcastle boss wants intense competition for places across the pitch after noting how Jonjo Shelvey, Joe Willock and Joelinton, for example, all raised their game following the arrival of Bruno Guimaraes in January. The battle for places is fierce and supposed squad players like Emil Krafth, Jamaal Lascelles, Sean Longstaff, Miguel Almiron and Chris Wood have all played their part at various points in recent months.
Not even an untouchable like Dubravka is assured of his place anymore and that's exactly how Howe wants it.
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