Newcastle United announced on its official website on Wednesday that the club's English Sporting Director Paul Mitchell has suddenly decided to resign at the end of June.

According to Newcastle's official statement, after CEO Darren Eales recently confirmed that he was diagnosed with cancer and would step down, Mitchell also submitted his resignation to the club suddenly, saying that he could no longer see the reason for himself to stay after the former left the club.

After the news of his resignation was confirmed, Mitchell, who was interviewed by Newcastle United's official website for the last time, said: "I would like to thank everyone at Newcastle United for their support over the past year, including Eddie Howe, Becky Langley, players, staff, owners and fans. I am honoured to be a part of the club and work with such outstanding talents."

"My departure is at the right time for me and the club, especially with Darren Eales, someone I have worked closely with during my career, leaving the club."

"The club is well taken care of on and off the field and is in a good position to continue to build."

"I wish everyone associated with Newcastle United a bright and successful future."

The reason is actually not like this

On the other hand, according to the news brought by The Athletic's resident renowned English Newcastle United team correspondent, Chris Waugh, it is more accurate to say that the relationship between Mitchell and manager Eddie Howe has completely broken down. rather than saying that Mitchell "wants to stand with Eales". 

He said that as a colleague who worked together at Tottenham Hotspur in 2014, Eales played a very key role in successfully persuading Mitchell to join the Magpies.

Many times, when Mitchell made a recruitment plan for the team, Eddie Howe would always put pressure on the management with an arrogant attitude of "I am the manager, I am the one who has the most say in planning the players needed in the team", causing the former's previous work to fail.

Eales often had to act as a "peacemaker" to resolve the conflicts between the two. Later, after the former was forced to resign due to cancer, Mitchell's influence in the club was gradually weakened.

Recently, the contract renewal issue of England international center forward Callum Wilson has directly become the key factor which caused the relationship between the two to reach a freezing point. Mitchell hopes to renew the contract with the player, while Howe is inclined to part ways with the player he has worked with when he managed Bournemouth because Wilson has been injured in recent years.

Ultimately, this led Mitchell to believe that Howe was fickle and had no feelings for the old players who had made many contributions to Newcastle United, which made him more determined to leave the club.

However, Waugh still admired Mitchell's ability to remain professional even in such a harsh environment and not reveal any signs of falling out with Howe.

About Paul Mitchell

Mitchell, 43, was born on August 26, 1981 in Stalybridge, England. He is 1.75 meters tall. He primarily played as a center back during his playing career and was also capable of playing as a defensive midfielder. He played for Manchester City, Wigan Athletic, Milton Keynes Dons and other clubs, but due to injuries, his professional football career was forced to end at the age of 27.

After retiring, Mitchell served as Southampton's Sporting Director in 2012 and moved to Tottenham Hotspur in 2013.

During his tenure, he helped Tottenham successfully poached well-known football players and staff such as Mauricio Pochettino, Dele Alli, Son Heung-min, Kieran Trippier, and Toby Alderweireld.

Later, he also served as the Head of Recruitment and Development at RB Leipzig.

During this spell, he also attracted the attention of Manchester United with his outstanding abilities.

In June 2020, Mitchell was appointed as the Monaco Sporting Director.

During this spell, he discovered two active stars of the France national team, Benoit Badiashile and Aurelien Tchouameni, and also helped the Ligue 1 powerhouse sign Takumi Minamino, Breel Embolo, Mohamed Camara, Alexander Nubel and others.

In July 2023, Mitchell announced his departure from Monaco and was once rumoured to be joining Liverpool, but it never came true.

One year later, Mitchell officially became Newcastle United's Sporting Director.

During his tenure, Mitchell helped the new Premier League giants win the Carabao Cup once, successfully breaking the 70-year trophy drought in the local major cup competition, and successfully witnessed the Magpies return to the Champions League again.