Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Hakim Ziyech – Marc Overmars has developed and sold-on some top talent at Ajax. Now Newcastle are lining him up to mastermind their transformation into a super-club.
Top of the new Magpies owners' wish-list is a new manager and enough star-power to drag them away from the drop-zone – having sacked Steve Bruce and set their sights on shaking-up the Premier League following a £300m takeover.
Overmars, the former speedy Arsenal, Barcelona and Ajax winger, re-joined the Dutch champions in 2012 as director of football and the club's blueprint of developing talent and dominating domestically is thriving.