Kevin Thelwell is a surprise contender to become Newcastle's sporting director... with New York Red Bulls head of sport previously helping behind the scenes to guide Wolves to European football

  • Newcastle's new owners are sifting through a number of high profile names
  • Kevin Thelwell has a high level of experience with foreign ownership groups 
  • His work behind the scenes at Wolves helped guide them to a top seven finish
  • Marc Overmars of Ajax and Luis Campos are also on the Magpies' radar

New York Red Bulls' head of sport Kevin Thelwell has emerged as a surprise candidate for the role of sporting director at Newcastle United.

The North East club's new owners are sifting through a number of high profile names including Marc Overmars of Ajax, Paul Mitchell at Monaco, Manchester City's Jason Wilcox and Luis Campos as they look for the right man to guide them through a huge stage of transition.

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The 47-year old Thelwell has a high level of experience with foreign ownership groups having had success at Wolves in the Premier League and now with the Red Bull Group.

Kevin Thelwell has emerged as a surprise candidate for the sporting director role at Newcastle
The 47-year old Thelwell (R) has a high level of experience with foreign ownership groups

His work behind the scenes at Wolves helped guide them to a top seven Premier League finish and European football while he also built up a strong agent network notably working closely with Jorge Mendes to recruit top talents to Molineux.

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Having also worked in England with Preston North End and Derby, he also oversaw Pro Licence coaching courses for the Wales FA. 

His CV has recently attracted the FA and Premier League who had sought him for different roles but he has so far remained with Red Bull.

His work behind the scenes at Wolves helped guide them to a top seven Premier League finish

Newcastle are keen to find someone who can plan with great knowledge of the domestic and global transfer market while working with a new manager.

They are well aware of the pressure that will come during their first stages of recruitment though are expected to be relatively prudent in January with around £50million earmarked for two defenders, a central midfielder and a striker.

Club scouts have already been making new reports this week on potential targets across Europe.

Former Arsenal forward Marc Overmars
Luis Campos was most recently director of football at Lille