Whenever a Premier League job is up for grabs, the name of Rudi Garcia usually appears on the shortlist. Some way down it admittedly – the 57-year-old always seems to be a contingency option rather than the leading candidate. Nevertheless, Garcia’s CV speaks for itself.
A Ligue 1 champion with Lille in 2010/11, albeit before Paris Saint-Germain became the all-conquering, competition-flattening death star that has sucked all the fun out of French football, Garcia also led Roma to the brink of Serie A glory, guided Marseille to the Europa League final and Lyon to the Champions League semis.
Simply put, Eddie Howe and Frank Lampard – two of the leading candidates to become Newcastle United’s new manager – don’t get close to the Frenchman when it comes to experience or success in the dugout.
According to the Daily Mail, Garcia is a new name in the frame for Newcastle. What’s more, he is available right here, right now, having left Lyon at the end of last season.
But while a man who put Eden Hazard on the pathway to superstardom could instigate an upturn at St James’ Park – his progressive, forward-thinking football would be a welcome change from Steve Bruce’s abstract approach to tactics – it must be said that, with Garcia, the good times don’t tend to last.
Newcastle managerial target Rudi Garcia finds it ‘difficult to finish a story’
Just ask former Newcastle favourite Yohan Cabaye, a man who enjoyed arguably the best spell of his career under Garcia at Lille and was almost reunited with his old boss at Marseille in 2017, according to The Mirror.
“He manages to win over the entire squad over a certain period (of time). But it’s true that, compared (with) what happened in previous seasons, we see that each time it is difficult for him to finish a story at his clubs,” Cabaye said last year.
“I don’t know why it often ends like this but it is true that, in Lille, it did not end very well, neither at Roma. His career shows it doesn’t often end well at clubs.”
Assuming Newcastle see Garcia as more of a short-term solution, a bridge between the Bruce era and the next, it’s unlikely PIF would worry about things going stale.
Rudi Garcia isn’t likely to be Newcastle’s Pep Guardiola. He could, however, be their Roberto Mancini.
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