Newcastle United have initiated contact with Nick Hammond as they chase a new director of football ahead of the January transfer window.
That’s according to the Daily Mail, who claim that Hammond has spoken to Newcastle about a role at St James’ Park.
Newcastle still haven’t managed to find a director of football two months on from their huge takeover.
Newcastle are now even hiring a recruitment firm to help them find somebody for the job.
Hammond is suddenly in the mix, and could be a short-term appointment for Newcastle having held initial talks.
Hammond has been out of football since leaving Celtic back in March.
How did Newcastle target Hammond fare at Celtic?
Hammond, 54, made his name at Reading, becoming their director of football in 2003.
West Brom swooped for him in 2016, and in June 2019, he headed to Celtic as a recruitment consultant. Hammond eventually became Celtic’s head of football operations.
Hammond’s time at Celtic was mixed, if you purely look at the signings made during his time at the club.
Christopher Jullien, Mohamed Elyounoussi, Jeremy Frimpong and David Turnbull were all relative success stories for Celtic.
Yet Moritz Bauer, Patryk Klimala, Ismaila Soro, Vasilis Barkas, Albian Ajeti, Shane Duffy and Jonjoe Kenny really struggled.
That’s a mixed bag and Newcastle fans may not feel that Hammond is quite the calibre of director they were hoping for after the takeover.
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