Assistant coach Eddie Newton to quit Chelsea this week for Trabzonspor — report

Breaking news out of Turkey on Monday claimed that Chelsea assistant coach Eddie Newton has agreed to become the assistant manager at Trabzonspor, effective this Friday.

Earlier reports had the Süper Lig contenders — currently third, five points off the pace of leaders ... Sivasspor (huh?) — looking to bring in a “foreign” assistant to help out caretaker manager and club legend Hüseyin Çimşir, who’s been in the job only for a few weeks after the controversial decision to fire head coach Ünal Karaman at the end of December.

It’s a surprising development, to be sure, but it seems like there may be some truth to it. There’s no word at the moment on who will replace Newton in his current role at Chelsea.

If true, Eddie’s last game as Chelsea coach is likely to be tonight’s home clash againt Arsenal.

Hopefully the Chelsea legend will get a chance to receive a bit of well-deserved adulation from the crowd for his long-standing service to the club, first as a player (starting at age 13 in 1990) and then in various coaching roles for most of the past decade (starting with Robbie Di Matteo’s fateful appointment as interim head coach in 2012). After Di Matteo’s departure later that year, Newton became a leading figure in the youth and loanee coaching departments, while also serving as assistant to Guus Hiddink in 2016 and to Lampard since the start of the season.

Incidentally, at Trabzonspor, Newton will link up with former Chelsea players Mikel John Obi and Daniel Sturridge, both of whom joined the club in the summer.

Good luck, Eddie!

Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images