Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has a £5million release clause in his contract at St James’ Park amid interest from the England national team.
Gareth Southgate is stepping down as Three Lions boss after Euro 2024, and Howe is emerging as the clear favourite to take over, though it remains to be seen how straightforward this will be.
Howe’s release clause was £8m last year, but that’s now gone down to £5m after the Magpies failed to get into the Champions League again, so this could be a big opportunity for the Football Association to pounce for the 46-year-old.
Howe has done impressive work at Newcastle, while he has also long been highly regarded in the game for his work during his time at former club Bournemouth.
England would perhaps do well not to rush into a decision on their next manager after the impressive job done by Southgate to lead them to two finals during his reign.
Previous reports have named a long list of candidates, so even if Howe is the favourite, it might be that the likes of Graham Potter, Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Tuchel and Lee Carsley will still be strongly considered.
Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard are also considered outsiders for the job, and it will be interesting to see what kind of path the team ends up going down in this new era.
Newcastle fans, however, will surely be hoping to keep Howe as he seems ideal to continue the club’s ambitious long-term project.
How anyone seriously thinks Potter is a realistic candidate is beyond me.
So the FA should rush in while the price is low, but they should not rush making their decision…..?