Brendan Rodgers is currently the top contender to become Newcastle United’s new manager, claims Gianluca Di Marzio. According to the transfer market specialist, the Leicester City coach is seen as the right man to take care of the new sporting project after the club’s takeover. His arrival would be a stunt, because Newcastle has to pay an amount of sixteen million euros to his current club to take over the trainer. John Percy of the Daily Telegraph let it be known on Twitter Wednesday evening that Rodgers is not interested in the position and that he is fully focused on Leicester.
Rodgers, 48, has been coaching Leicester since February 2019. He replaced sacked Claude Puel in the middle of the 2018-19 season and then led the club from 12th to ninth place. In the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, Rodgers finished fifth with the Foxes. Leicester are currently in 13th place in the Premier League with eight points from seven games. Rodgers previously spent three years as Liverpool manager from 2012 and two and a half seasons at Celtic from 2016.
Should Rodgers indeed switch to Newcastle for €16 million, the Northern Irishman will become the second most expensive coach ever. Last summer Bayern Munich paid an amount of 25 million euros to remove Julian Nagelsmann from RB Leipzig, with which the record champion holds the record. Incidentally, Rodgers is already third in that ranking, because of his switch from Celtic to Leicester, which involved 10.5 million euros. The second most expensive coach at the moment is Andre Villas-Boas, who was brought from FC Porto to Chelsea in 2011 for fifteen million euros.
Officially, Steve Bruce is still employed as Newcastle manager, but English media are sure the coach will be sacked this week. His assistant Graeme Jones is expected to take the honors on Sunday in the home game against Tottenham Hotspur. The new owners of Newcastle, a consortium from Saudi Arabia, hope to avert relegation with a new coach. The Magpies are second to last in the league after seven games with only three points achieved.
Outside of Rodgers, other names are also mentioned for the trainer position at Newcastle. For example, the name of Frank Lampard, who has been without a club since his resignation from Chelsea in January, has been prominently featured in the English media. Steven Gerrard is also linked to Newcastle, although the former midfielder is stuck at Rangers. According to the Evening Chronicle Antonio Conte is also open to the position, although that news is not widely supported in the British press. Conte left Internazionale last summer with the league title in his pocket.
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