Newcastle United: Presenter claims Xavi is a person of interest to new owners

Ian McGarry has been speaking on The Transfer Window podcast about how Newcastle United are interested in Xavi potentially becoming the next manager.

Newcastle’s owners have now sacked Steve Bruce and now have another big task on their hands in appointing his successor, and while this is a big decision, they are seemingly not short of people interested in the job.

The likes of Paulo Fonseca, Lucien Favre and Roberto Martinez are said to be interested in the role, however, one left-field candidate is former Barcelona midfielder Xavi, who has been managing Al-Sadd SC out in Qatar for the last two years.

McGarry has revealed that Xavi is someone that Newcastle are interested in.

“One name which I find very interesting that’s been mentioned to me – not that there’s been an approach made, as far as I’m aware of, but certainly an interest from one of the parties – is Xavi Hernandez, the former Barcelona captain, who has been widely touted as a successor to Ronald Koeman, who is not popular with Barcelona fans.

“Obviously, the team’s performances so far this season have not been brilliant, however, it has been relayed to me from someone very close to Xavi that he is not keen to follow Koeman directly into the job at Camp Nou, he sees the problems both financially and with regards to the playing squad, as certainly not insurmountable, but certainly problematic.”

TIF Thoughts on Newcastle’s managerial search…

It has been reported that Fonseca is set for talks with Newcastle this week, although if he is handed the reins, he won’t be in the dugout on Saturday for the match against Crystal Palace, with the club confirming it will be Graeme Jones in the hotseat.

Given Newcastle’s situation at the bottom of the Premier League, going for someone who has only ever managed in Qatar would be an almighty risk to take, but Xavi is a big name within football, so he could potentially attract some big-name players.

In other news: ‘This is going to be special’, ‘Dreamy’ – Many NUFC fans buzz as ‘amazing’ new candidate emerges