Paulo Fonseca is emerging as Newcastle’s leading target to replace Steve Bruce.

Bruce was sacked by the Premier League club a week on from the £305million takeover by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

Fonseca is a free agent and is thought to be keen on the Newcastle job
It was an inevitable move as Newcastle look to move on from the Mike Ashley era with fans calling for the sacking of the 60-year-old.

A number of leading contenders have emerged including Eddie Howe, Frank Lampard and Lucien Favre.

But Fonseca is the frontrunner with the Guardian reporting that Newcastle conducted an interview with the Portuguese over Zoom yesterday.

The 48-year-old has managed the likes of Porto, Braga, Shakhtar Donetsk and Roma.

Bruce left the Magpies by mutual consent on Wednesday morning
He was a leading candidate to join Tottenham and the new Newcastle owners are said to be admirers of him.

But what can fans expect if Fonseca is appointed their next manager? European football expert Andy Brassell told talkSPORT: “Fonseca is a more than capable coach who has got an attractive philosophy of playing football.

“There have been a lot of real high points in his career. Got Pacos de Ferreira to the Champions League qualifiers, rebuilding Shakhtar Donetsk, who are homeless and getting them to a couple of league titles and doing well in Europe.

“He even played some good stuff at Roma, but the difficulty is when he’s under pressure.

When Shakhtar beat Man City, Fonseca delivered his press conference dressed as Zorro
“Towards the back end of his spell at Porto, he couldn’t express himself with clarity and the pressure really started to get on him.

“You look at the back end of his spell at Roma and things really started to fall apart badly.

“There was an infamous situation in a cup match where he accidentally made an extra sub, despite his captain warning him what was going on.

Fonseca has held talks with Newcastle
“When you think of the immense pressure at Newcastle United, and the current makeup of the squad, which may make his playing style of football difficult.

“He is a good coach, but I’m not convinced he is the best fit.”

It will be a tough job for anyone going into St James’ Park with the club currently second from bottom after eight games and are yet to win a match.

Source: https://talksport.com/football/966226/paulo-fonseca-newcastle-talks-steve-bruce-replacement-tottenham/