Unai Emery emerges as lead candidate for Newcastle United manager job

Newcastle United hope to appoint Villarreal manager Unai Emery before their Premier League clash against Brighton on Saturday.

The former Arsenal boss has emerged as the lead candidate for the job but will still take charge of Villarreal’s Champions League match against Young Boys on Tuesday evening.

Newcastle have also held talks with ex-Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe and former Roma head coach Paulo Fonseca.

Emery previously spent 18 months in charge of Arsenal before being sacked in November 2019.

His managerial record on the continent is impressive though, with three back-to-back Europa League titles at Sevilla and a Ligue 1 and two French Cup titles as manager of Paris Saint-Germain.

He also won the Europa League last season after a penalty shootout win over Manchester United in the final.

Newcastle sacked Steve Bruce on 20 October, two weeks after a £300m takeover backed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

Cover Photo: 05/05/2016 – Sevilla FC – FC Shakhtar Donetsk – 3:1 by Aleksandr Osipov used under license by CC BY-SA 2.0.