The potential takeover of Newcastle United has rumbled on for a while now, and it sounds like there’s some fresh doubt over the possibility of it going through.
It’s not a great look for the Premier League that little has been said about the abhorrent human rights record in Saudi Arabia, but as soon as FIFA might miss out on some money then they start to show a concern.
Sky Sports have reported on the latest with the proposed takeover, and it doesn’t sound like good news.
The problem centers around claims that Saudi Arabia were helping to promote illegal football broadcasts on a pirate network.
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The issue for Newcastle is the funds for the takeover would come from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – but the report is damning against several prominent Saudi figures and the Premier League may not deem them as suitable owners or directors.
Of course FIFA have welcomed the report because it was potentially hurting their revenue, and that’s all they really care about.
The report also goes on to say that Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden had said it was up to the Premier League to make a decision on this, but he is now coming under pressure from MPs to intervene.
Ultimately there’s still no final answer over how this will end up, but it’s not looking good for Newcastle at this point.