Ralf Rangnick has emerged as a priority target for Newcastle United with the Premier League club hoping to follow in the footsteps of RB Leipzig, a source told The Express.
Newcastle’s Saudi Arabian owners might have £500 billion lining their back pockets, but that does not mean the Magpies are about to become English football’s answer to the Galacticos.
It is understood that the North East giants are expected to prioritise young, hungry, up-and-coming talent over high-earning big-names.
In short, do not expect Philippe Coutinho or Mauro Icardi to join Jonjoe Shelvey in the St James’ Park dressing room any time soon.
The Express have spoken to ‘an established intermediary, who has helped broker four Premier League transfers in the past two years’.
According to the unnamed source, Newcastle are looking to take a leaf out of the Leipzig playbook, inspired by the rapid rise of a club who climbed from the fourth tier of German football to the Champions League semi-finals in the space of ten years.
Will Ralf Rangnick take over at Newcastle United?
Rangnick, one of the most influential minds in modern football, was the brains behind Leipzig’s taurine-powered transformation, presiding over a transfer policy which saw some of the continent’s brightest talents move to the Red Bull Arena, including Naby Keita, Timo Werner, Ibrahima Konate and Dayot Upamecano.
“They want a model and similar infrastructure to RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga, which is why Rangnick is the guy they want at the top. He knows his stuff,” explained the intermediary.
63-year-old Rangnick coached Leipzig to third place in the Bundesliga during the 2018/19 season but prefers to do his business in the boardroom rather than in the dugout these days.
It is understood that, should Rangnick take over at Newcastle, he would be the club’s new director of football rather than a replacement for the embattled Steve Bruce.
The German is currently working as the Head of Sports and Development at Russian giants Lokomotiv Moscow, with the club distancing themselves from speculation over Rangnick’s future on Thursday.
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