Spanish football expert Guillem Balague has claimed that Newcastle United’s owners-to-be are hoping to attract RB Leipzig boss Julian Nagelsmann to the club.
The much-publicised takeover from the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth, Amanda Staveley and the Reuben brothers hasn’t been finalised just yet, but it should come soon after weeks of rumours.
The club will cost £300million, but these new owners will be pumping huge funds into the club in order to turn Newcastle into a major force of English football.
We’ve already seen a host of big names linked to Newcastle. Kalidou Koulibaly, Edinson Cavani, Willian and Nabil Fekir have all been touted, as have a host of managers.
Steve Bruce is still in the job, and is likely to get until the end of the 2019-20 season – whenever that may be given that the Premier League is suspended due to the ongoing pandemic.
Yet Bruce may be in danger of losing his job as the new owners may want their own man – and Sky Sports claimed last week that they’re willing to pay Mauricio Pochettino a huge salary to take the job.
Now, Balague claims that Pochettino is clearly the number one target, and the ex-Spurs boss has been aware of their interest for some time now.
Balague also claims that Newcastle want RB Leipzig boss Julian Nagelsmann in a truly ambitious move, but he’s happy in Germany despite being on the four-man Newcastle shortlist alongside Pochettino, Rafael Benitez and Massimiliano Allegri.
“The plan has been, until the big appearance of Newcastle, to stay put and wait for an opportunity to arise,” said Balague. “I know, and we all know, that Pochettino has become the number one target for Newcastle – we all know that.”
“What I know for sure is that Pochettino, Rafa Benitez and Allegri are the three names on the table for Newcastle. They want to convince one of them or Nagelsmann. Of course, ambitious as they are, they want one of those four. I believe Rafa Benitez hasn’t got a call yet, I know that Pochettino is aware of the interest, very aware of the interest even before Sky Sports News came out with the story that he is the number one target. He’s aware of the story, he’s aware of the interest – that’s as far as I would say. In the case of Allegri, ambitious as well but without the experience of the Premier League, and Nagelsmann I think is very happy in Germany,” he added.
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