Everything we know about Matthias Jaissle as Newcastle pick top Eddie Howe replacement

Newcastle are accelerating with discussions to bring in Matthias Jaissle as Eddie Howe's replacement after reliable reports confirmed his departure from St James' Park.

Howe had been kept on by the Magpies despite a disappointing 12th place finish last season and a 8-3 Champions League aggregate loss in the knockouts against Barcelona.

But after the departures of both Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali and continued speculation that captain Bruno Guimaraes wants to leave for Premier League champions Arsenal, Howe has informed the club he wishes to take a break after five years in the hotseat.

Howe, who led Newcastle to their first trophy in 70 years, was in charge for a 4-1 friendly defeat to Championship side Bristol City.

The club are now working on an immediate replacement with the new Premier League season and according to David Ornstein of The Athletic, have their sights set on Al Ahli boss Jaissle.

Who is Newcastle's next manager Matthias Jaissle?

The 38-year-old has been with Al Ahli, also majority owned by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), since 2023 and has won two Asian Champions League titles while accruing a 65.22% win percentage.

Prior to that, he won two Austrian Bundesliga titles with Red Bull Salzburg and led them into the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in their history after succeeding Jesse Marsch.

As a player, Jaissle had a 11-year professional career which he spent the entirety at Hoffenheim in Germany - enjoying back-to-back promotions following a move from Stuttgart when he was 18.

However, the centre-back was plagued by injuries and suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear against Hannover.

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Failing to fully recover, he ended up retiring at the age of 26 and it was then that Ralf Rangnick, who had signed him for Hoffenheim, gave him an opportunity.

As per The Athletic, Rangnick, working as RB Leipzig's head of sport, invited Jaissle to a trainee programme in the club’s youth department.

The first role was working as assistant with Leipzig’s under-16 team to Sebastian Hoeness, the current Stuttgart head coach.

He then worked as assistant manager at Brondby and was back in the Red Bull system as the coach of Salzburg's under-18s to further his coaching education.

Jaissle stepped up to manage Salzburg's reserve team side FC Liefering and then got the opportunity to manage the Austrian giants at just 33 when Marsch moved to sister club RB Leipzig.

A Rangnick disciple, Jaissle is all about high-pressing and fast, attacking football.

“I want stress on the opponent as soon as possible,” he said on his style of play.

“And when we win the ball, I want to go as quickly as possible towards the opponent’s goal. I’m very vertical in that approach.”

He was given the boot at Salzburg just one day before the start of 2023/24 and moved to Saudi with Al Ahli, where he has taken charge of 138 games - winning 90, drawing 25 and losing 23.

Jaissle was briefly linked with the AC Milan prior to Ruben Amorim getting the job and is one of the highest-paid managers in the world, reportedly earning £9.6 million per year at Al Ahli.

He is contracted with Al Ahli until 2027 and has managed the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Ivan Toney and Roberto Firmino during his tenure.