Magpies supporters can scream their joy. After 14 years of a frankly disappointing presidency in relation to the ambitions promised, Mike Ashley sold Newcastle United for around € 350m to a Saudi consortium, largely supported by the public investment fund (FIP) of this Gulf country Persian. The northern England club belongs, to make it short, to the Saudi royal family. The latter intends to use its new acquisition wisely.
Saudi Arabia wants to show the international scene that it can also invest heavily in sport and use it to expand its influence, as its neighbors are already doing, its ally the United Arab Emirates by holding Manchester City, and its rival, Qatar, with PSG. “We have the same ambitions as Manchester City and PSG in terms of trophies, it’s true, but it will take time. Yes, we want to win the Premier League in five to ten years. This takeover is extremely transformative. We want to see trophies. But for that, we need investment, time, patience and teamwork ”, even acknowledged Amanda Staveley.
A transfer window budget of € 220 million
The new club figure wants to hit hard and we learn through the Telegraph that management already has a budget of £ 190 million, or € 220 million. A huge budget that can be spent from January in its entirety, without even being worried by the financial fair play rules of the Premier League (not that of UEFA which is about to be deleted). This is explained in detail by the English media in its columns and it is thanks to the now ex-owner of the Toons.
The latter has not made a lot of investments in recent years, either in structures or in the transfer market. It is even the English club of this level which has spent the least. This gives the new management more leeway. In fact, Premier League rules allow clubs to record losses of up to £ 15m over a 3-year period. While the Magpies even made £ 38m in profit during this period, the settlement raises that bar to £ 105m in losses in the event of investments of at least £ 30m per season. This should be the case for Newcastle in the next few years. The Premier League is also giving an allowance of £ 50m to clubs running a training center. This is still the case with the Magpies.
New owners want to be careful
In other words, Newcastle are in the nails of the Premier League thanks to management without economic risk from Mike Ashley (but not without sporting risk) but it is the Saudis who will benefit. However, the new management does not intend to do anything either. Aware of the club’s sporting reality (19th place in the standings without any victory, 16 goals conceded in 7 matches, i.e. the worst defense in the championship), it does not intend to spend these € 220 million in a single window but rather to leave this sum over the next 4 mercatos. Caution is therefore required after this completely failed start to the season. And the situation would not be at all the same with a club in the Championship.
