Newcastle line up Eddie Howe replacement
Shafaq News
Newcastle United are in advanced talks with Al-Ahli head coach Matthias Jaissle to replace Eddie Howe, according to transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano, with the Premier League club preparing for another phase of its post-2021 rebuild.
Romano identified Jaissle as Newcastle’s leading candidate and described a deal as close. TalkSPORT separately reported that Newcastle had selected the German coach as Howe’s replacement.
Neither Newcastle nor Al-Ahli had officially announced the managerial change at the time of writing.
Jaissle, 38, has coached Al-Ahli since 2023 and led the Saudi club to consecutive AFC Champions League Elite titles in 2025 and 2026. The Asian Football Confederation confirmed that Al-Ahli retained the continental title by defeating Japan’s Machida Zelvia 1-0 after extra time in April.
Before moving to Saudi Arabia, Jaissle won two Austrian Bundesliga titles and the Austrian Cup with Red Bull Salzburg. His possible appointment would give Newcastle a coach experienced in developing young players and working within multi-club and Saudi-backed football structures.
Howe Transformed Newcastle
Howe joined Newcastle in November 2021, one month after a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund completed its takeover of the club, inheriting a winless team sitting second-bottom of the Premier League and guided it away from relegation.
Newcastle subsequently qualified for the Champions League twice under Howe and reached two League Cup finals. After losing to Manchester United in 2023, they defeated Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley in March 2025 to end a 70-year wait for a domestic trophy.
The cup triumph formed the high point of a rebuild that returned Newcastle to European competition and established the club among the Premier League’s leading sides. However, the team fell to 12th place in the 2025–26 season, finishing with 49 points and missing European qualification.
Another Newcastle Rebuild
The reported coaching change follows a difficult summer in which Newcastle lost winger Anthony Gordon to Barcelona and midfielder Sandro Tonali to Tottenham Hotspur.
Captain Bruno Guimaraes has also been linked with Premier League champions Arsenal. Howe acknowledged on July 26 that he did not know whether the Brazilian would remain at the club, although Newcastle wanted to keep him.
Should an agreement be completed, Jaissle would inherit a club undergoing both managerial and squad restructuring. His immediate task would be to stabilize the team, replace departing senior players, and return Newcastle to European competition after the decline that followed their 2025 League Cup success.
