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Ratcliffe wants Vieira to stay at Nice

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Britain’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants Newcastle United managerial target Patrick Vieira to remain as OGC Nice boss, according to the Daily Express.

The newspaper claims that Ratcliffe is in the middle of taking over the French side, and that he wants the Arsenal legend to remain in his current role if he is successful.

Vieira was actually interviewed by Magpies owner Mike Ashley in 2015 before he decided to appoint former England manager Steve McClaren.

The World Cup winner is thought to be happy in his homeland, further decreasing Newcastle’s chances to bringing him to St James’ Park.

OPINION

It doesn’t look like this is going to be a straight forward managerial search for the Magpies. Vieira is one of several targets who has been linked with the club who is actually employed at the moment. That always brings up a host of difficulties, chiefly sorting out a compensation fee with the manager’s employer. Ashley, as we know, doesn’t like spending money, so it’s unlikely that he wants to splash out on a costly fee for an in-work manager. That immediately decreases Vieira’s chances of getting the Newcastle job, but this latest development all but ends it. Clearly he’s happy where he is and the prospective new owner of Nice is happy with him as well. You can see why, too. He guided the Ligue 1 outfit to seventh last season, while he impressed over in America with New York City FC, as well. So he’s  a fine candidate, just not one who will be sitting in the St James’ Park dugout any time soon.

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