Newcastle United parted ways with Steve Bruce on October 20th, just days after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund completed the purchase of the Premier League side.
Various managers are already linked to the vacant job at St James’ Park, but they now seem to have a ‘favourite’, if Sport1 chief reporter Patrick Berger is to be believed.
Berger, who took to Twitter, claims Villarreal manager Unai Emery is ‘now favourite to become the new manager’ of the Tyneside club.
The German journalist explains the Newcastle board are ‘pushing’ for the former PSG manager and they want to bring the Spaniard to the club during November’s international break.
Emery is currently contracted to the La Liga side, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem for Newcastle’s new owners. Berger says the Magpies are ‘keen to pay a huge fee’ to get the 49-year-old out of his Villarreal contract.
Unai Emery favorite now to become the new manager of Newcastle United, sources telling @SPORT1. #NUFC board pushing as they want to present the former Arsenal boss in the next international break. @NUFC keen to pay a huge transfer fee to get Emery out of his Villarreal contract.
— Patrick Berger (@berger_pj) November 1, 2021
The Spaniard has the experience of managing in the Premier League from his time at Arsenal.
After his 18-month spell with the Gunners came to an end in November 2019, he returned to management in the summer of 2020, when the Yellow Submarine appointed him as their manager.
In his debut season at Villarreal, Emery guided them to Europa League success, where they beat Manchester United in the final.
At the time of publishing this shock report, there was no mention of Emery to Newcastle in Spain.
It won’t be long before Berger’s claims will be picked up by the media close to Villarreal. Whether it will be to back it up or dismiss it remains to be seen.
