Newcastle United may be the world’s wealthiest club at the moment, but executives and coaches are not impressed. In fact, Newcastle’s co-owner and director Amanda Staveley has been rejected too many times in the last month or so, when she began her quest for a sporting director and a coach. And while ideally, she wanted to appoint a sporting director first, with the idea that he will participate in the search for the coach, time was short and her first choice, Ajax sporting director Marc Overmars rejected the offer. Staveley then, again after a few rejections, found a new coach first – Eddie Howe, and is finally on a brink of finding a sporting director as well – Michael Emenalo.Exclusive: Michael Emenalo the leading candidate for Newcastle United director of football job @Matt_Law_DT #NUFC https://t.co/hsret3rpWf— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) November 8, 2021 The former Nigerian footballer, and a member of the team which participated in the World Cup 1994 has a much more illustrious post-football career, as he rose to the title of Chelsea’s technical director and brought the players like Eden Hazard, Juan Mata, Ngolo Kante, Cesc Fabregas and Kevin De Bruyne. He also reconstructed the club’s academy, scouting (at one point he was a chief scout), loan and women’s team setups, until he left November 2017 and later took Monaco. Considering that Newcastle needs a complete overhaul in every department, Emenalo’s CV indicates that he and Newcastle are a match made in heaven. The Telegraph revealed that the 56-year-old travelled to Saudi Arabia last week to meet with the Magpies’ new owners to discuss the move that the interview well very well. His trip to Saudi Arabia happened before Howe appointment, but he was informed about the manager short list, and according to reports, Emenalo was full of praise for Howe, so it’s safe to say the pair will world well together.The wealthiest club has decided: Eddie Howe is the new Newcastle managerThe only other name being considering so far is Edwin van der Sar. According to 90Min, Former Manchester United keeper is currently Ajax’s chief executive, and as a player, he won it all: four Eredivisie titles, four Premier League titles, one Champions League, one UEFA Cup with Ajax, Juventus and Manchester United. Van der Sar has a great reputation both on and off the pitch and Ajax’s current success is not only due to Overmars’ and Ten Hag’s excellent work, but Sar’s too. If anything goes wrong with Emenalo negotiations, maybe Amanda will turn her attention to Der Sar.
