Eddie Howe has left Newcastle United after nearly five years in charge. The 48-year-old informed the club’s board he wishes to take a break from football, and Al-Ahli head coach Matthias Jaissle is already in advanced talks to replace him at St James’ Park.
The separation is described as amicable. Howe had initially agreed to remain in charge following end-of-season meetings at Matfen Hall, where he received full backing from the club’s PIF delegates. That position changed after Wednesday night’s 4-1 pre-season friendly defeat to Bristol City, and Newcastle officials were already well-prepared for his departure when it came.
Howe informed the club of his decision to take a break and depart after five years as head coach. A deal for Jaissle is close, with the German described as the clear frontrunner after Kieran McKenna and Antonio Conte were also considered. The wider context of a summer squad rebuild, including the expected sale of Bruno Guimarães to Arsenal, left Howe feeling he no longer had the tools to meet the club’s expectations.
Why Jaissle Makes Immediate Sense
The logic behind Jaissle’s candidacy isn’t complicated. The 38-year-old German manager is currently in charge of Al-Ahli, a club also overseen by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the same body with links to Newcastle. That structural connection gives the appointment an internal coherence a cold external search wouldn’t have.
Jaissle built his reputation at Red Bull Salzburg, where he won back-to-back Austrian Bundesliga titles and the Austrian Cup playing high-intensity, attacking football. Since moving to Al-Ahli in 2023, he has delivered consecutive AFC Champions League titles in 2025 and 2026, a record that places him firmly in the upper tier of coaches operating outside Europe’s top five leagues.
What he hasn’t done is manage in a major European league. That’s the caveat. Newcastle are handing a squad in the middle of major reconstruction to a coach making his top-five-league debut under real pressure.
The Scale Of What Howe Leaves Behind
Howe arrived in November 2021 with Newcastle nineteenth in the table and the club in genuine relegation danger. He steered them to safety, then secured Champions League qualification in a historic 2022-23 campaign, and delivered the Carabao Cup in 2025 against Liverpool, ending a trophy drought that stretched back 70 years. By any measure, that’s the most successful managerial tenure in the club’s modern era.
The 2025-26 season told a different story. Newcastle finished twelfth in the Premier League and were eliminated from the Champions League in the last sixteen by Barcelona in heavy fashion. The squad erosion was significant: Alexander Isak had already departed to Liverpool for a British record £128m, Anthony Gordon followed to Barcelona for £69.3m, and Sandro Tonali left for Tottenham in a £100m deal. Newcastle have still spent around €130.5m on new arrivals this summer, with Bazoumana Touré their most high-profile signing, but the outgoing business clearly weighed heavily on Howe.
What Happens Before Newcastle Face Liverpool
Newcastle open their Premier League season at home to Liverpool on 23 August, leaving roughly three weeks to formalise Jaissle’s appointment, finish pre-season preparation, and navigate the expected departure of Guimarães. That’s an extremely compressed timeline for a new head coach to establish himself before a season-opening fixture of that size.
Talks with Jaissle are advanced enough that a formal announcement should follow quickly. What nobody yet knows is whether his first act as Newcastle head coach will be managing the exit of the squad’s most important player before he’s even taken a training session.
