Bookies favourite for NUFC job responds to rumours & fellow Toon target facing dilemma?

Unai Emery has responded to rumours linking him with the vacant job at St James' Park, saying he currently "knows nothing about Newcastle."

This comes after the former Arsenal boss became the new bookies favourite on Monday morning, with this followed by reports in Europe signalling that the Saudi consortium were prepared to pay a 'huge fee' to prise him away from Villarreal.

Elsewhere, The Mirror have been told that fellow Toon target Erik Ten Hag will take a lot of convincing to swap Champions League success at Ajax for a relegation scrap on Tyneside.

Starting with Emery, here's his blunt response when asked about the NUFC rumours prior to Villarreal's Champions League clash with Young Boys on Tuesday night:

“I know nothing about Newcastle,”

A source close to Ajax boss Erik Ten Hag also had this to say to The Mirror, suggesting he is reluctant to join a struggling side when his Ajax team is on course for the last 16 of the Champions League:

“Will it be Champions League or Championship? That is the ­question that bothers Ten Hag.

“Right now he is top of the group with Ajax in the Champions League and he can be sure of taking them into the knockout stages in 2022.”