Newcastle United were taken over by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in October and a week or so later, it was reported the Tyneside club want a director of football to lead their new project at St James’ Park.
Marc Overmars emerged one of the early candidates in October, but the possibility of the Magpies luring him ended after he signed a new contract with Ajax this week.
De Telegraaf provides us a background into what happened before the 48-year-old signed an extension.
It’s claimed the Dutchman caused ‘blind panic’ at Ajax with his ‘flirtation’ with the Premier League side. The Eredivisie winners were ‘on fire’ in October, after finding out about Newcastle’s interest in their official.
The Ajax supervisory board had ‘feared’ of losing the former Arsenal midfielder because he was ‘interested’ in the Newcastle job and his contract had a ‘notice period of only three months’.
When approached by the same board, Overmars not only confessed about the English club’s interest, but also admitted he felt undervalued in Amsterdam. His fixed salary was €413,000 plus an additional €250,000 in bonuses.
In the second meeting with the supervisory board, the Ajax leaders expressed their desire to retain him and were also willing to meet a ‘large part’ of his financial demands.
A meeting with Newcastle was already scheduled in London, but after meeting the Ajax board for the second time, Overmars called Newcastle to cancel it.
Prior to announcing Overmars’ renewal, Ajax’s official Twitter page had a leaked video, hinting at a new deal for the Dutchman. When De Telegraaf approached him for an update, the director confirmed through a WhatsApp message that he’d signed a new contract.
The official announcement on Wednesday morning should end Newcastle’s chances of appointing Overmars as their director of football.
