French outlet Le10 Sport claim that Newcastle is Mourinho’s favourite next move in England and the club are ready to speed up their efforts should they opt to sack Howe and replace him with the Portuguese icon. His name has been mooted as a potential replacement for Howe, who some within the club believe is underperforming.
Newcastle’s owners, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, are not happy with their standing in the table and having already exited the Champions League and Carabao Cup, face the prospect of not qualifying for any European competition next season.
That would be a hammer blow for the Magpies, having already admitted that big sales are necessary in order to comply with the Premier League’s financial regulations. Pillars of Howe’s team Kieran Trippier and Miguel Almiron are heavily linked with exits to Bayern Munich and Al-Shabab respectively.
Howe’s future could be quickly resolved, according to the report, if Newcastle do decide on pursuing Mourinho, but he also has interest from Saudi Arabia who are said to be pushing hard to bring him to the Middle East. He could link up with Almiron, after Al-Shabab drew up a huge offer to tempt him into the move.
However, Mourinho is not fully convinced about joining several other big names in Saudi and is still considering options in Europe. Whether the door will open for him to coach at St James’ Park remains to be seen, though he does have an affinity for Newcastle after working as a translator for Sir Bobby Robson during their time together in Portugal and Spain.
“On Newcastle, I don’t have anything to say. Absolutely nothing to say,” said Mourinho in 2021.
“The only thing I can say is that for many, many years, I worked with one of the most important figures in the history of Newcastle, Sir Bobby Robson, and so because of that I have always had a bit of an emotional connection with that city and that fanbase. But it’s nothing more than that.”
Newcastle travel to Fulham in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday and then will face another trip to high-flying Aston Villa three days later, in what could be a vital double-header for Howe as he looks to fight off Mourinho and prove he is the man to take Newcastle forward.