Newcastle Saudi owners ‘offered 30 per cent stake in Man Utd for £700m before deciding on Toon takeover’
NEWCASTLE chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan has revealed that the Saudi-led PIF were offered a 30 per cent stake in another Premier League club before they bought the Toon.
Public Investment Fund completed their £300m takeover of the Magpies almost exactly 12 months ago.
Following 14 years of Mike Ashley, Al-Rumayyan and Co ended a painful period on Tyneside by purchasing the club.
But the Newcastle chief, who’s already spent more than £200m in his first two windows in charge, admitted it could have all been so different.
He told Radio Eight: “Football, of course, is one of the most important sports there is.
“Whether domestically (in Saudi) or abroad. It’s the number one sport in the world.
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“And why the English Premier League? Because it’s the best league in the world. No other league competes with it.
“There are 20 teams, three are relegated and three are promoted. The advantage of the Premier League is that any of the 20 teams can beat the best team in the league.
“When we looked at it, we looked at it from a financial perspective.
“By the way, it wasn’t the first offer we got regarding a football team. We looked in Italy, France and the UK as well.
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“For example, in the UK there was a team that approached us on the basis that we take 30 per cent of the ownership, and we don’t interfere at all in terms of managing the club, for £700m.”
The Athletic have claimed the team that proposed the offer was actually Manchester United.
Al-Rumayyan added: “Then we bought Newcastle, who offered us 100 per cent of the ownership.
“But Amanda Staveley and her husband who got us the opportunity told us, ‘We like it so much, we would like to be with you’. That was perfect.
“Then came the Reuben family who are one of the biggest property investors, saying that, ‘We would like to come with you’, and these are one of the biggest investors in Newcastle.
“I said, ‘Perfect! Tell them to come’. So now they (Amanda, her husband and Reubens) have a skin in the game.”