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Newcastle are ready to make an approach to Sheffield Wednesday as they attempt to appoint Steve Bruce as Rafael Benitez\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\nNewcastle are ready to make an approach to Sheffield Wednesday as they attempt to appoint Steve Bruce as Rafael Benitez\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\n
The 58-year-old Owls boss is said to be the man at the top of the Magpies\u2019 shortlist and that a formal contact is imminent, with the club due to embark on their Premier League Asia Trophy trip to China on Saturday.<\/p>\n
It is understood they would have to pay compensation of around \u00a31million to release the Corbridge-born former Manchester United defender from his current contract.<\/p>\n
Some bookmakers suspended betting on Bruce\u2019s appointment on Tuesday after a flurry of bets saw him installed as odds-on favorite to fill the vacancy at St James\u2019 Park.<\/p>\n
Should Newcastle push home their interest, the former Sunderland manager will have a job on his hands to win over supporters still furious at Benitez\u2019s departure, with some planning fresh protests over owner Mike Ashley\u2019s controversial approach to running the club.<\/p>\n
A series of fans, group have joined forces to call for a boycott of the opening fixture of the new Premier League season against Arsenal at St James\u2019 on Sunday, August 11.<\/p>\n
In addition Bruce, who has been linked with the Magpies in the past, would face the task of rebuilding a squad which has been shorn of leading scorer Ayoze Perez, striker partner Salomon Rondon, out-of-contract midfielder Mohamed Diame and loan signings Kenedy and Antonio Barreca since the end of the last campaign.<\/p>\n
While sources on Tyneside have insisted the \u00a330million Leicester Paid for Perez will be re-invested in the squad, a new manager will have to attract players to a club with an increasingly toxic reputation while operating under the restrictions which prompted Benitez to reject a contract extension and head for Chinese club Dalian Yifang instead.<\/p>\n
Bruce is being targeted with 10 days having elapsed since the Spaniard\u2019s contract expired, with a series of potential candidates, including Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Patrick Vieira, Steven Gerrard and Chris Wilder, who signed a new long-term contract with Sheffield United on Tuesday evening, having distanced themselves from the job.<\/p>\n
He played down the rumors when asked about them at Wednesday\u2019s pre-season training camp in Portugal.<\/p>\n
He told the Sheffield Star: \u201cIt\u2019s news to me. God only knows what happened on Tuesday afternoon. There seemed to be an upsurge [in the betting] from somewhere. John Terry was favorite yesterday. It was Mikel Arteta the day before, so who knows?<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as I am concerned, I am here, I am going home tomorrow and looking forward to walking the dog.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bruce was appointed by the Owls in February, four months after parting company with Aston Villa, who subsequently went on to clinch promotion via the Sky Bet Championship play-offs under successor Dean Smith.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Benitez has aimed a thinly-disguised barb at Ashley in a blog looking back over his first week as manager of Chinese side Dalian Yifang.<\/p>\n
He wrote: \u201cI must say that I have had more meetings with the chairman, the president and the general manager this week than I had in three years at Newcastle.\u201d<\/p>\n