What new sporting Ross Wilson will be tasked to do as soon as he arrives at Newcastle United
Newcastle United are reportedly closing in on bringing Ross Wilson in as sporting director as they negotiate a release package with Nottingham Forest.
Wilson has long been named as the favourite to succeed Paul Mitchell at Newcastle after the former Monaco man up and left less than a year into the role.
It has been a problematic job to fill for Newcastle, with Dan Ashworth running off to Manchester United not long into his tenure at the club.
The Magpies had to navigate the summer transfer window without a sporting director and with a CEO who was on reduced responsibilities. In fairness, they ultimately did very well, but now with a new CEO in place, the sporting director is set to follow.
Ross Wilson has some new contracts to dish out when he arrives at Newcastle
One of the first things Wilson will be asked to do when he arrives at Newcastle, according to iNews, will be to tie three top players down to new deals.
Sandro Tonali, Tino Livramento and Sven Botman are all in line for improved contracts. While only Botman is close to running his deal down, Tonali and Livramento have proven themselves to be top, top players for Newcastle, and the club will want to keep them happy to prevent them from moving elsewhere.
Newcastle have been waiting for a new sporting director to come in before offering new deals to existing players. Hopefully, Wilson isn't as short-sighted as Mitchell was when he refused to offer improved terms to Alexander Isak, resulting in a load of unnecessary drama this summer.
Manchester City have been lurking around Tino Livramento
Manchester City were thought to be sniffing around Livramento in the summer, so the Magpies will have to act to make sure they are in a strong position to turn them away should they return in the summer.
Sven Botman is starting to look back to his best after a string of bad injuries, and with his contract expiring in 2027, they don't want to wait too long to tie him down to avoid clubs getting in his ear.
Meanwhile, Sandro Tonali has probably replaced Isak as the club's best player, and they will really not want to repeat that mistake again.
