There is a new threat on the horizon in the Premier League.
BBC Sport report a Saudi Arabian backed takeover of Newcastle United has been completed.
The PIF Investment Fund, separate from the Saudi Arabian state, have agreed upon a £300 million takeover.
Reaction
It’s hard to begrudge Newcastle United fans some hope. That is a club which has been stripped of everything under Mike Ashley, being relegated twice, and upon promotion seem completely devoid of ambition.
Manchester United fans will recall battling with Newcastle for the title in the mid-90s and their huge fanbase is clearly an untapped market for investors to awaken the sleeping giant.
From Manchester United’s perspective this is another threat potentially impacting the upper places in an increasingly competitive Premier League.
Manchester City’s takeover in 2008 was dismissed by many at the time and yet it has turned them into a force to be reckoned with.
It will take Newcastle a while to catch up to the very top teams, dependent on the speed of their investment.
The prospect of more ‘oil money’ coming into the Premier League is going to get plenty of negative reaction. On the pitch, it is going to get more competitive for Manchester United, which can be gauged simply looking at the finances behind both clubs.
Net worth
The Glazers are paupers compared to Newcastle United’s incoming owners.
The net worth of the Glazer family was reported in 2015 by Forbes to be 4.7 billion dollars (£3.6 billion).
The Newcastle consortium is backed by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad Bin Salman, and he has a net worth of approximately £320 billion, The Sun report.
This is staggeringly more than the Glazers and eclipses the net worth of City owner Sheikh Mansour £22.9 billion (Talksport).
This scarily high figure shows the power Newcastle’s new owners could yield across the Premier League and European football.
Financial Fair Play rules have proved to be a lame duck in recent years, and a Newcastle spending spree could be upon the league as soon as January.
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