NE SOCCER

Newcastle looks forward to beguiling Nice’s Patrick Vieira to step into the shoes of the head coach. Vieira had a pretty good season with Nice as they finished 7th in the French Ligue. Newcastle United had communicated with the former Manchester City and Arsenal midfielder previously. In 2015, he had interviewed for the managerial position. However, the job went on to Steve McClaren. It is not yet clear as to whether Vieira would agree to leave Nice after he spent 12 months as the in-charge of the club.

Nevertheless, he might be tempted to give his ears to any offers, in case Newcastle goes over with a proposal. In the meantime, Steven Gerard has stated that he is happy with his position at Rangers as he got a decent start to his career as a manager. Rangers have been successful in putting Celtic in the race for the title, for the first time after several years. Gerard prefers to move with this project prior to moving on to some other club. The name of Mikel Arteta has also come up in the context for the managerial job at Newcastle. At present, he is Guardiola’s number 2 at Manchester City.

Last summer, he was to take over from Arsene Wenger but Arsenal finally chose to go with Unai Emery. Arteta is interested in moving on to a managerial position soon enough but it has been reported that he is skeptical about starting with Newcastle. Newcastle United has started with their search for the head coach after Rafa Benitez bid adieu to the club on Monday. It is disappointing that the club’s new deal failed to impress the Spaniard who has been associated with Newcastle since 2016. Newcastle stated that they worked hard for extending the contract with Rafa over a considerable period of time. But, they were unable to reach an agreement with him.