Newcastle United are moving to make former Chelsea man Michael Emenalo their new director of football after being spotted in Saudi Arabia.
That’s according to The Telegraph, who claim that Emenalo is now the favourite to become Newcastle’s new director of football.
It’s stated that Emenalo travelled to Saudi Arabia for talks with Newcastle’s new owners last week, and has become their first choice for the job.
Talks are expected to ramp up now, and Emenalo is understood to be a big fan of newly-appointed Newcastle boss Eddie Howe.
Emenalo allegedly spoke positively about Howe during talks with Newcastle, meaning this could be a dream duo for Newcastle.
Who is Newcastle target Michael Emenalo?
Emenalo turned out for Notts County in his playing days, picking up 14 caps for Nigeria in a 15-year playing career.
Emenalo became a Chelsea coach under Avram Grant and then assistant. Come 2011, Emenalo had taken the huge job of technical director at Chelsea.
The 56-year-old is understood to have played a key role in signing the likes of Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard for Chelsea.
Emenalo is also credited with revamping Chelsea’s academy output, helping them develop top youngsters.
In 2017, Emenalo headed to Monaco and oversaw signings of Youri Tielemans and Aleksandr Golovin in a mixed spell.
Emenalo has been out of the game since 2019. In August, Emenalo was linked with a shock move to Arsenal as a replacement for Edu.
It now looks like Newcastle will land Emenalo, and will hope that he works wonders in the January transfer window.
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