Paulo Fonseca is now ‘out of the picture’ for the Newcastle United job for the time being as Lucien Favre is the new favourite for the position.
That’s according to SportBILD journalist Christian Falk, who says that Fonseca and German coach Ralf Rangnick are now considered ‘candidates’ at most by the Magpies.
Newcastle’s new owners are on the hunt for a new manager after sacking Steve Bruce last week, and numerous names have been linked with the position.
Fonseca was believed to be the early frontrunner, but that has quickly died down as Newcastle have seemingly turned their attention to getting a director of football in place first.
The name at the top of their list appears to be Marc Overmars, who has done an impressive job rebuilding Ajax over the last few years, even when they’ve continually sold their top talent.
He is reportedly closing in on the move, and it seems that has caused a change in target for the manager’s position as well.
“Favre and Overmars would harmonise very well, they know each other in the system,” Falk told BILD when asked if Favre is the ‘hottest candidate’ for the job.
“Fonseca and Rangnick are currently out of the picture, but they are also candidates.”
What Falk means by they know each other in the system is anyone’s guess, although we’re reading it as Favre would fit into the model that Overmars would like to introduce and have met a number of times.
That would presumably be a system in which he brings in talent to be developed and then sold on, something he’s turned into an artform at Ajax.
That would certainly suit Favre, who was hired at Borussia Dortmund to do a similar thing and did at both Nice and Borussia Monchengladbach as well.
