Ewen Jaouen was always an avid follower of the Bundesliga, but his future lay elsewhere. “With your characteristics, you could be a goalkeeper in England one day,” he was once told by Christophe Lollichon, Chelsea’s former head of goalkeeping. Those words proved prophetic. Jaouen has now undergone a medical before completing a move to Newcastle United – a club prepared to pay about £18.5m for a goalkeeper who has never played top-flight football.
The 20-year-old France Under-21 international stands 6ft 6in tall and kept 15 clean sheets for Stade de Reims in Ligue 2 last season – the most for the club since Edouard Mendy. Lollichon, who coached Jaouen during a loan spell at USL Dunkerque in 2024-25, sees echoes of another protégé. “Ewen is only 20 so, if the context is positive, I don’t know the limit for him,” he told BBC Sport. “I think the objective of Newcastle is for him to observe the new level in his first season. The Premier League is the top. The intensity, the quality of the players, is a big change but Ewen has this ability to observe and adapt very quickly.”
“Newcastle United are set to sign 20-year-old French goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen from Stade de Reims for £18.5m.”
Jaouen is proactive in his box, decent with his feet, and capable of big saves – self-described as a “modern ‘keeper”. Yet Lollichon warns against throwing him straight in: “That would be a little bit dangerous.” Instead, Newcastle will look to protect the “giant” as he adjusts, after a career that has already included setbacks. At Dunkerque, Jaouen lost his starting spot to the more experienced Adrian Ortola following a couple of errors. But Lollichon emphasises his professionalism and discretion: “What I’m saying is a little bit old-fashioned, but he needs to feel love around him.”
The transfer represents an almighty step up from Ligue 2, but with Lollichon – who worked with Petr Cech, Thibaut Courtois and Mendy – likening Jaouen’s profile to when he first saw Courtois at 17, Newcastle have bet on potential. The raw attributes are there: the question is how quickly the Frenchman can turn promise into Premier League reality.