Lukas Hornicek becomes Braga’s latest big-money sale as goalkeeper signs for Newcastle | OneFootball

Lukas Hornicek enjoyed two brilliant seasons after becoming first-choice goalkeeper at Braga (Photo: Octavio Passos/Getty Images)

Czech goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek has been rewarded for his brilliant displays for Braga over the last two seasons with a big-money move the English Premier League club Newcastle United.

The Magpies have paid €30.6 million euros for the 24-year-old’s signature. Benfica were thought to be interested in bringing Hornicek to Lisbon, but the fee demanded by Braga proved prohibitive.

“I want to thank everyone at Braga from the bottom of my heart,” said the goalkeeper in a farewell video.

“It’s been a long road, a good journey, tough sometimes, but we always found a way to improve, to have a good head on my shoulders and to keep working hard to get to where I’ve got to today. Thank you very much. I will always be one of you and Braga will always be in my heart.”

Hornicek was signed as a promising teenager and patiently worked his way through the youth ranks at the northern club. After a few sporadic appearances for the first team, he was given his chance in the 2024/25 season and grabbed it with both hands, arguably second only to Porto’s Diogo Costa as the finest goalkeeper playing in Portugal in the last two years.

Last season Hornicek’s unflappable temperament and superb shot-stopping was on full display as he clocked up 55 appearances and was a key member of the team’s run to the semi-finals of the Europa League.

The lucrative sale is another example of Braga’s excellent squad management. In anticipation of Hornicek’s departure, the club bought Bernardo Fontes, also 24 years old, at the start of the summer for €5 million after the Brazilian’s excellent showings at Tondela last season. Fontes is a ready-made replacement for the Czech.

Astute transfer business

It is the latest in a long list of huge-money sales Braga have made in recent years as they firmly establish themselves as Portugal’s fourth strongest club and try and chip away at the gap to the traditional Big Three of Porto, Benfica and Sporting.

Braga’s top ten sales (courtesy of Maisfutebol):