Eddie Howe has stepped down as head coach of Newcastle United after a glorious, frenetic, and exhausting five-year spell at St James' Park — a tenure that transformed the club from relegation fodder into trophy-winning legends.

After telling the club at the end of last season — which was long and bruising — that he wished to carry on, Howe reconsidered not long after players returned to training. A combination of high-profile departures, a couple of rejections in the transfer market, and captain Bruno Guimaraes expressing a desire to join Arsenal led Howe to conclude that he could give nothing more and that it was time for a fresh start.

Jaissle Appointed as New Head Coach

Matthias Jaissle will be the public face of this fresh start. The 38-year-old German is being hired from Al Ahli, the Saudi club who have won the past two Asian Champions League titles, for a significant release fee. His appointment cements the sense that Newcastle are heading into a new era, with a young manager leading what will be a young and energetic team stocked with players who actively want to be on Tyneside.

The stylistic similarities between Howe and Jaissle are apparent. Both favour hard running and pressing. In an interview with The Athletic earlier this year, Jaissle described his approach: "I want stress on the opponent as soon as possible. And when we win the ball, I want to go as quickly as possible towards the opponent's goal. I'm very vertical in that approach."

The appointment is deliberately aligned with the squad's profile. "We had a very clear set of criteria for the type of football that suits this squad because this is a squad that Eddie's had a hand in building," one senior source told The Athletic, speaking anonymously to protect relationships. At Red Bull Salzburg, where Jaissle won two league titles and the Austrian Cup, his age helped him connect with a youthful team — and four of Newcastle's five signings this window are 20 or under.

Hornicek Joins as Fifth Summer Signing

Newcastle have also completed their fifth senior signing of the summer, with Lukas Hornicek joining on a five-year contract from Braga for a fee of €30million, the value of his release clause. The 24-year-old has been described by sporting director Ross Wilson as "one of Europe's top young goalkeepers" and is expected to be first-choice this season.

The Guimaraes Saga

The continuing uncertainty around Guimaraes remains the dominant storyline. The Brazil midfielder has expressed a desire to join Arsenal, but Newcastle did not want to sell him this summer and have been perplexed by the lack of direct contact from the London club. Howe last week described the saga as "unhealthy" and a "distraction," and Newcastle are keen for a resolution.

The bigger picture is increasingly unfocused because of the unknowns. Newcastle have already lost experience and huge quality in Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali. If Guimaraes follows them out of the club, they will also have lost their captain and talisman — without whom they were effectively unable to win in the Premier League under Howe.

There is also the question of how Jaissle will accommodate Nick Woltemade, who was signed at great expense in the desperate aftermath of Alexander Isak's contentious exit to Liverpool last summer, but who struggled to find a consistent position in Howe's XI. Jaissle often used a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-1-2 shape at Al Ahli, in contrast to Howe's preferred 4-3-3.

What Comes Next

As of last week, Newcastle were not aggressively pursuing a Guimaraes replacement, but since Howe's departure there has been a growing feeling that the situation cannot be allowed to drift. Stuttgart's Germany midfielder Angelo Stiller and Victor Froholdt of Porto, a Denmark international, are among the players to have been scouted intensively.

Hornicek's arrival, plus the earlier signing of young French goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen, means that Nick Pope will be allowed to leave. Joe Willock and Jacob Murphy have both entered the final year of their contracts, and bids for them will be considered.