Former England striker Gabriel Agbonlahor believes that Unai Emery would have been a 'panic signing' for Newcastle United after he revealed he was staying at Villarreal.
The 50-year-old has been linked with the vacant Magpies job, but confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that he was committed to The Yellow Submarine following their 2-0 win over Young Boys in the Champions League.
In a social media post, Emery claimed that Villarreal is "my home" and is "grateful for the interest of a great club, but even more grateful to be here."
A number of different coaches have been tipped to replace Steve Bruce as the next permanent Newcastle boss, including Emery, Eddie Howe and Paulo Fonseca.
However, whoever comes in will have to try and steer the Magpies out of the relegation zone after a dismal start to the season.
They have picked up just four points from their opening 10 matches and Agbonlahor believes that Newcastle could be 'down by January'.
"Emery struggled with Arsenal, he didn’t do well at Arsenal, so I don’t think it would have been a good appointment, no," Agbonlahor told Football Insider.
"Newcastle are absolutely miles off it. They’ve been linked with every manager walking the earth and they’ve not signed one yet. It’s like a panic signing, for me.
"Where did his name even come from? Yes, he won the Europa League with Villareal but would he have been the answer for Newcastle? I wasn’t sure.
"Whoever they do bring in has one hell of a job to do. At the moment, for me, Newcastle are the second-favourites to go down after Norwich.
"The manager needs to get results before January, he can’t wait until January to get players in because they could be down by January and 10, 15 points off safety.
"They need to get wins now and you can’t see where their next win is coming from."
.jpg?w=600)
