OPINION
There will be many Newcastle United supporters who still won’t even want to think about who will succeed Rafael Benitez at St James’ Park, so bereft are they at the Spaniard’s departure, which will be made official on Sunday.
However, the reality is that a new man needs to be found, and you couldn’t find a safer pair of hands for a Premier League side than Burnley manager Sean Dyche.
The Northern Echo reported on Thursday that the former Watford boss is indeed on the Magpies wish-list to replace Benitez, but that it would cost the club £10million to snare him from the Clarets.
The Englishman still has three years to go on his contract at Turf Moor, where he is clearly extremely committed to the project in Lancashire.
The £10million compensation fee for Dyche surely means that this move is a non-starter, though, despite his presence on Newcastle’s list of candidates. Mike Ashley isn’t prone to splashing the cash, and he would surely much prefer a move for an out of work manager, or at least someone with a far smaller compensation fee than Dyche.
That’s a shame because he would be an ideal candidate to steady the ship at St James’ Park, while he has experience of working under a smaller transfer budget with Burnley.
However, this simply isn’t going to happen. It’s far more likely that the Magpies bring in someone like Mikel Arteta from Manchester City or an underwhelming free agent boss like Garry Monk or Chris Hughton.
So while Dyche would be the ideal candidate to continue Benitez’s fabulous work on Tyneside, it appears that his appointment is merely wishful thinking at this stage.
