Eddie Howe confirms Newcastle have poached highly-rated Liverpool backroom member ahead of clash

Newcastle have confirmed they’ve poached a member of Liverpool’s coaching staff ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League fixture at Anfield.

Mark Leyland has left Anfield to link-up with the Magpies.

Leyland, who served as the Reds’ head of post-match and elite player development analysis reunited with Eddie Howe, having worked together at Burnley.

Speaking ahead of Thursday’s game, Newcastle boss Howe said: “Mark has joined the club from Liverpool. He’s someone that I worked with at Burnley.

“Really, really good guy, first and foremost, to come in as a coach/analyst, so he’ll be helping us with all our implementation of our training.”

Who is Mark Leyland?

Leyland joined Liverpool from Burnley in the summer of 2013.

He worked at the Clarets as a performance analysts 10 months beforehand, having been hired by Howe and then working under now-manager Sean Dyche.

Leyland, who is from Hoylake, Wirral and is a lifelong Liverpool fan, had previously been at Everton.

Is it a big blow for Liverpool?

According to The Independent, manager Jurgen Klopp and assistan Pep Linjders both wanted Leyland to remain at Liverpool.

But he’s heading to Newcastle to take up a role that is a mixtures of a coach and collating performance data.

In essence, it’s a promotion on his Reds role and Klopp didn’t want to stand in Leyland’s way.

Leyland will now help plot Newcastle’s Premier League survival bid. They languish 19th in the table.