Rafa Benitez faces the sack if the mooted takeover of Newcastle goes ahead.
Billionaire Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his Abu Dhabi-based group have their own managerial targets, with Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger at the top of the list.
Current owner Mike Ashley has put further talks with boss Benitez over a new contract on hold while discussions about selling the Premier League club to Sheikh Khaled take place.
Benitez’s deal expires at the end of this month.
However, we can reveal there are doubts within the Ashley camp that the controversial Sports Direct magnate’s Tyneside reign is actually about to come to an end.
There has been no sign of any of the £350million he is demanding to walk away from the club he bought 12 years ago for £134m.
An Ashley source stated: “Mike is starting to think that it’s another publicity stunt, which will ultimately end in the club remaining unsold. He now wants those representing the Sheikh to either put up or shut up. We’ve had fake Sheikhs before. He’s hoping this isn’t another one.”
Worryingly for Toon fans, the takeover talks have placed Benitez’s future on the back burner.
Until news of a Middle East bid for the club arrived last week, it is understood that talks over a new deal for 59-year-old Benitez, who steered an underfunded squad clear of Premier League relegation for a second straight season, were advanced.
The former Liverpool, Chelsea, Napoli and Real Madrid manager’s deal runs out this summer and the man regarded as a messiah by the Toon Army has been linked with a number of jobs — the latest at Italian heavyweights Roma.
And MirrorFootball can disclose that, when it was put to Sheikh Khaled’s representatives a swift deal was needed to help sort out Benitez’s future, the reply came that there were other options.
Mourinho is available having been sacked by Manchester United in December, while fellow managerial giant Wenger has yet to return to the game after his 22-year Arsenal reign ended last summer.
Previous Newcastle takeovers – including a protracted one involving businesswoman Amanda Staveley and another earlier this year headed by former Chelsea and Manchester United chief Peter Kenyon – have fizzled out.
