Patrick Vieira and Mikel Arteta are two of the three favourites for the Newcastle United manager’s job according to reports.

Rafa Benitez will leave Newcastle when his contract expires at the end of June after the Spaniard refused to extend. As such, Newcastle are said to be looking for a young manager to replace him rather than turning to somebody like Steve Bruce or Sam Allardyce – a move that must be applauded.

They reportedly have three names on their shortlist in Patrick Vieira, Mikel Arteta, and current Ranger’s boss, Steven Gerrard.

The latter, although said to be flattered by the links is happy in Scotland.

That leaves the two former Arsenal men.

Mikel Arteta, as you no doubt remember, seemed to come very close to landing the Arsenal job in the wake of Arsene Wenger’s departure. It seems like he wants to break free from his role as assistant and strike out on his own and there are many worse clubs he could do that with than Newcastle. The player, however, is said to have concerns about Newcastle being his first proper management job given the fact the club is up for sale.

Vieira has been on Newcastle’s radar for a while. The Magpies spoke to him about the job back in 2015 before they went with Steve McClaren, a move that was disastrous.

The Daily Telegraph report that while Vieira has no plans to leave Nice he would listen to their proposal.

Personally, I’d love to see either of those two managing in the Premier League although I’m not sure that’s reason enough for either of them to take this job.