Could Newcastle United really bring Andre Villas-Boas back to the Premier League if Mauricio Pochettino says no.
Andre Villas-Boas is the latest name to be linked with the Newcastle United job with FootMercato claiming that a return to the Premier League is a possibility if Mauricio Pochettino snubs the Magpies.
If there was any doubt about the ambition of Newcastle’s prospective new owner, Saudi billionaire Mohammed Bin Salman, consider this; Pochettino will become the third-highest paid manager in world football if he accepts an offer to take over from Steve Bruce on Tyneside.
Sky claims that the Argentine will be offered a staggering £19 million-a-year contract.
Money isn’t everything of course and, with all due respect to Newcastle, they do not have the same stature as the likes of PSG and Real Madrid; both of whom continue to be linked with a man who transformed Tottenham from perennial underachievers into Champions League finalists.
So it only makes sense to have a contingency plan in place. Newcastle have two, FM claims.
If Pochettino says no, they will enquire about Villas-Boas or Borussia Dortmund boss Lucien Favre.
Villas-Boas’s reputation might have been tainted somewhat by disappointing spells at Chelsea and Tottenham but a man who famously led Porto to the treble at the age of just 33 has certainly got his career back on track across the Channel.
A now-42-year-old tactician who wears his heart on his sleeve and loves the analytical side of the game lead Marseille to second in Ligue 1 this season and back into the Champions League for the first time since 2013.
After that, Villas-Boas surely deserves a chance to prove the naysayers wrong in England.
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