Newcastle United are set to appoint a successor to departing manager Eddie Howe, who has left the Tyneside club after five years at the helm.
Matthias Jaissle is the manager lined up to take over. Like Howe, he moved into management very young after a modest playing career as a defender. The 38-year-old will become Newcastle boss with both he and the club having a point to prove.
Jaissle, from southern Germany, is currently the manager of Al-Ahli in the Saudi Pro League. The Royals are one of the clubs majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), also owners of Newcastle.
Who is Matthias Jaissle?
The former centre-back played for Hoffenheim in Germany’s lower divisions before following compatriot Alexander Zorniger to Denmark to become his assistant manager at Brondby.
After two years in Denmark, Jaissle was snapped up and absorbed into the Red Bull football machine, where he had been involved as part of the RB Leipzig set-up.
18 months after returning to the multi-club operation as the manager of Red Bull Salzburg under-18s, Jaissle was bumped up to the senior side at Salzburg finishing school FC Liefering and very quickly to Red Bull Salzburg as the successor to Jesse Marsch.
The Red Bull system is loathed by many football supporters but has become a prolific pathway for young players. Jaissle has coached Benjamin Sesko, Karim Adeyemi and Strahinja Pavlovic, to name just a few.
Some of Red Bull’s success is down to its similar outlook on coaching and management, where the development of talent in line with a particular strategy takes precedence.
Marsch’s immediate predecessor at Salzburg was Marco Rose, now about to embark on his own first season in the Premier League as the manager of Bournemouth. Pep Lijnders is among the managers who’ve held the post since.
Indeed, former Hoffenheim boss Ralf Rangnick steered that system for a period and introduced Jaissle into the fold. The new Newcastle boss prefers principles over a strict systematic approach, learning under Red Bull’s feted 4-2-2-2 philosophy but generally eschewing the formation itself.
“I think it’s important that every club has a philosophy about the way they want to play. But what is also important for me as a coach: Here in Salzburg are guardrails – but within these guardrails, each coach can bring his own signature,” Jaissle said in 2022.
“The question is always how do I get the best team on the pitch? It is important to maintain a certain tactical flexibility. For me, the tactical formation plays a subordinate role. It is crucial that we get our principles on the pitch.”
Jaissle can stand by his record in Austria before he swapped Salzburg for Jeddah three years ago. He won the Bundesliga twice and gave the Red Bull club a foothold in the Champions League, a frontier that has proved difficult in light of the increasing primacy of RB Leipzig in the stable.
Al-Ahli have won the last two AFC Champions League Elite titles, twice defeating Japanese opposition in the final with Riyad Mahrez, Franck Kessie, Edouard Mendy, Ivan Toney and former Hoffenheim teammate Roberto Firmino in their ranks.
They finished third in the Saudi Pro League in 2025-26, matching their best finish under the German.
