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Report: Newcastle’s potential new owners wanted to bring in 48-year-old manager to replace Bruce

Paulo Fonseca
Shakhtar Donetsk's Portuguese manager Paulo Fonseca arrives ahead of the Group F football match between Manchester City and Shakhtar Donetsk at the...
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Paulo Fonseca
Shakhtar Donetsk’s Portuguese manager Paulo Fonseca arrives ahead of the Group F football match between Manchester City and Shakhtar Donetsk at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west… (AFP Contributor/AFP/Getty Images)

Newcastle United may have appointed Paulo Fonseca if their takeover had gone through, the Daily Mail suggest.

Newcastle were wanted by a group of Saudi investors over the summer, but talks to buy the club from Mike Ashley ultimately fell through.

The noises from Newcastle’s new owners suggested that they had big ambitions to make the Magpies a force again.

And it has now emerged that Fonseca was one of the top candidates to replace Steve Bruce.

It was widely anticipated that if the takeover did go through then Bruce would have lost his job at Newcastle.

Upgrade on Bruce?

Paulo Fonseca tottenham
Shakhtar’s Donetsk Portuguese coach Paulo Fonseca attends a press conference on October 1, 2018, at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais stadium in Decines-Charpieu, central-eastern France, on the… (JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images)

Fonseca, who is now edging close to moving to Tottenham Hotspur, could have been an appealing candidate for Newcastle.

The Portuguese boss generally plays in an attractive style, and has enjoyed decent success across multiple countries.

Bruce actually kept Newcastle in the Premier League last term, with the Magpies improving towards the end of the season.

However, the 60-year-old boss still has plenty of doubters at St. James’ Park and remains a fairly unpopular figure with some sections of the crowd.

Fonseca’s arrival would at least have created some intrigue around Newcastle, given he has never managed in England before.

But it now seems that Newcastle fans will have to watch how Fonseca performs from afar, if he does take the Tottenham job in the coming days.