Newcastle United have reportedly lined up Borussia Dortmund’s Bundesliga boss Lucien Favre to replace Steve Bruce in the Premier League.
Newcastle United’s managerial target Lucien Favre has been hailed by Mario Balotelli, with the Italian international taking to Instagram to rave about a man who coaxed the best out of him at Nice.
Between 2016 and 2018, a softy-spoken Swiss coach did what the likes of Roberto Mancini and Brendan Rodgers never managed to achieve – he managed to get one of the modern era’s most puzzling mavericks performing on a weekly basis.
Balotelli, a man who sparkled only sporadically at Liverpool, Milan and Inter while flopping spectacularly at Liverpool, was transformed into a reliable and ruthless centre-forward on the French riviera.
In just two seasons, Balotelli found the net 43 times in 66 matches under Favre at Nice. So no wonder he looks back on his time under the now-Borussia Dortmund coach with a great deal of fondness.
“He made me much better, especially tactically. Before, I worked on instinct,” Balotelli says of a coach who made Nice shock title contenders in the 2016/17 season, as translated by BeIN Sports.
“I discovered a great coach. He is very good tactically, but also in the way he manages the locker room.”
Two years after Balotelli and Favre parted ways, the 62-year-old is apparently being lined up as a potential replacement for Steve Bruce at a Newcastle side who look set to become a Premier League force once again under their prospective new owners (ESPN).
Success seems to follow Favre whether he goes and a man who transformed Nice and Borussia Monchengladbach, before turning Dortmund into Bundesliga challengers one again, might just be the ideal man to roll in a new era on Tyneside.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
