A journalist has claimed that Ralf Rangnick and Paulo Fonseca are both now 'out of the picture' for the Newcastle United manager job.
The Lowdown: Manager hunt continues
The St. James' Park faithful have been linked with a number of different managers to take over from Steve Bruce on a permanent basis, including most recently Lucien Favre and Rafa Benitez.
Fonseca had been heavily linked with the role, with reports even suggesting he was Amanda Staveley's preferred candidate, but Craig Hope claimed this week the former Roma boss arriving looks unlikely.
While the hunt continues, Graeme Jones will remain in temporary charge in the North East for now.
The Latest: No Rangnick or Fonseca?
Speaking to BILD (via Sport Witness), Bundesliga journalist Christian Falk has claimed that both Rangnick and Fonseca are currently 'out of the picture' in terms of becoming the next coach on Tyneside.
However, he also added that they are still 'candidates', meaning that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium could still turn to them to fill the vacancy.
The Verdict: Not much between them
There is certainly not much between Rangnick and Fonseca, with the former having eight trophies to his name with three different clubs (Transfermarkt), while the latter boasts nine major honours.
They both have an attractive playing style, as Fonseca has been described as ‘similar’ to Chelsea and UEFA Champions League winning-boss Thomas Tuchel by his former player at Roma Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Football London), while Roma chief executive Tiago Pinto believes that he is an ‘international class‘ tactician.
Rangnick is famous for his team's gegenpressing, an attack-minded tactic based on making chances by winning the ball back high up the pitch (ESPN), while Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp claimed that he is ‘one of the best, if not the best German coach’ (ESPN), ahead of the likes of Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann.
Nonetheless, both would be excellent choices by the new owners, should they come back into the equation.