Journalist Luke Edwards has outlined the possible concern that PIF could sell Newcastle United to buy Manchester United, who have recently been put up for sale.
The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia took charge of the Magpies last year and seem intent on investing ‘staggering’ amounts of money to propel the club to Premier League and European domination.
However, top-flight rivals Manchester United have just been put up for sale, and PIF may well be thinking they should have just waited a year before then being able to buy the Red Devils.
This point was made in an interview with academic Simon Chadwick, who told The Athletic: “There probably will be a certain amount of disbelief amongst Saudi officials having bought Newcastle when they really wanted to buy Manchester United. They are now in a position where they could potentially buy Manchester United.
“I might be going out on a bit of a limb here, but it is not entirely inconceivable that they could dispose of Newcastle and buy Manchester United.”
Edwards took to Twitter to respond to this, saying: “It is a thought that occurred to me as well, but they’d have to sell NUFC, and who would buy them knowing PIF were buying Manchester United? They can’t own both. It’s also difficult to see how PIF allow a private investor to ‘rival’ them. Interesting, though.”
Are you worried Newcastle United could be sold?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts on Newcastle United…
Of course, Manchester United could be a pretty interesting prospect to consider for PIF. After all, seeing as they have won the Premier League and Champions League since the turn of the century, they naturally have a bigger and more established global brand than Newcastle.
However, things with the Magpies are going pretty well so far. Indeed, despite only taking over last year, Eddie Howe’s men are now pushing for European football and could yet finish inside the top four.
What’s more, as Edwards points out, PIF certainly couldn’t own both clubs, and it might be hard to sell Newcastle to someone if they were clearly then going to buy a direct rival and make them so much stronger with their massive financial investment.
All in all, fans can probably relax as it seems unlikely that a change in ownership will happen any time soon.