Jose Mourinho has identified Newcastle as the perfect club for his Premier League comeback if Eddie Howe leaves St James’ Park.

Mourinho wants a fifth spell managing in England after his previous stints at Chelsea (twice), Manchester United and Tottenham, and has his eye on developments at the Magpies as he grows more and more unhappy at Turkish club Fenerbache.

The Guardian report that the 61-year-old has reached out to intermediaries and asked to be kept up to date with the latest goings on behind the scenes on Tyneside, where Howe has just reached three years in charge but is not guaranteed long-term security.

Newcastle had gone five Premier League games without a win prior to last Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Arsenal and are currently 11th in the table, a long way off returning to the Champions League after Howe led them into the group stages last season.

Howe is not under any immediate pressure over his job, but lost two key allies at the club with the departures of directors Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi last summer.

Mourinho met with Newcastle chairman Yasir al-Rumayyan at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in March, purely in a social capacity, but The Guardian report claims that the connection has been maintained.

The Portuguese made a huge effort to charm British journalists when they were in Istanbul for Fenerbahce’s Europa League tie with Manchester United last month, and has frequently criticised the Turkish league during his time there.

Mourinho went even further in an extended rant against the Turkish football authorities after last week’s 3-2 win over Trabzonspor, when he accused the referee of being a ‘child’ and posted a series of videos on social media criticising him.

Speaking after the match, he said: “In the end, I’m working in Turkey. It’s not my country. I care because it’s my job and I care because it’s my club. But I think you Turkish, you should care about it! You Turkish, you should speak, not me. You should denounce. You should say what is going on, year after year.

“You should do it, not me. Because I will be the one under attack, the one the system will criticise. The system will try to punish me, the system will try to close my mouth.

“Nobody abroad wants to watch the Turkish league. Who wants to watch this Turkish league abroad? They have the Premier League, they have the French league, they have the German league, they have the Portuguese league, they have the Dutch league. Why should they see this? … It’s too grey, it’s too dark, smells bad. But that’s my job, and I will give everything to my job, to my club.”