Newcastle United reportedly look set to face rejection from Unai Emery as their search for a new manager goes on.
The Villarreal boss had emerged as one of the leading candidates to replace Steve Bruce, but it’s intriguing to hear why he seems to have decided against accepting an offer from St James’ Park.
According to Guillem Balague on BBC Sport, Emery was not convinced the Newcastle job would be right for him due to concerns over a lack of vision from the club.
This is partly down to the fact that Emery was alongside former Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe as one of the two main contenders for the role, despite these coaches having such different playing philosophies.
Fair play to Emery for being cautious about the Newcastle job when so many others would surely have jumped at the chance to work under their wealthy new Saudi owners.
Whoever does end up managing NUFC will surely have huge amounts to spend in the transfer market, and the chance to build almost an entire squad from scratch.
Emery has done fine work with Villarreal, however, and it’s refreshing to see that he’s not in a hurry to leave that project behind.
Balague goes on to suggest that the Spanish tactician might consider Newcastle again in the future once it’s more clear what kind of team they want to build.
It will be interesting to see if Howe now gets the job instead.