Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
News
Newcastle can strike ‘bargain’ £30m off-pitch deal with help of Aramco
PIF have consistently leveraged their business influence to make Newcastle United more competitive in the transfer market – and their latest move could be their most significant yet.
With over £700bn of assets under management, the Saudi Public Investment Fund are not short of potential commercial alliances to strike with Newcastle.
Sela and Noon, the Magpies front-of-shirt and sleeve sponsors, pay Newcastle a combined total of around £32.5m per season, for example.
Commercial income is central to PIF’s strategic ambitions on Tyneside, with increasing revenue the only way to give the club more headroom under the Premier League’s spending controls.
When the takeover was completed in October 2021, commentators were quick to draw comparisons with Abu Dhabi United’s era-defining acquisition of Man City.
But aside from the geopolitical ambitions and no-expense-spared approaches of PIF and Abu Dhabi United, the two deals could hardly be any more different in terms of the regulatory contexts at the time.
Man City were taken over in pre-FFP environment and their rise to the peak of football was swift, whereas Newcastle – despite an ahead-of-schedule Champions League campaign – will be a slower burn.
It was in the fifth year post-takeover that City established their multi-club model.
Now, three years into PIF’s residency at St James’ Park, the North East club are looking to do the same.
To assess what this might mean for Newcastle and whether it can help them access football’s upper echelons, TBR spoke exclusively to Liverpool University football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire.
Newcastle take steps towards multi-club model
Since the earliest days of the takeover, chiefs at Newcastle have spoke about their admiration of the multi-club model.
Over half of the clubs in the Premier League now operate in some form of multi-club network, with various sporting, regulatory and administrative benefits.
PIF are now reportedly eyeing potential sister clubs for Newcastle in the 777 Partners network with a view to a takeover.
The Miami-based group command a stable of seven clubs but, as one-time 777 targets Everton have found out, are facing legal and financial battles that pose an existential threat to the company.
Five of 777’s clubs are in Europe, including Ligue 2 side Red Star and Belgian Pro League outfit Standard Liege, who PIF are believed to have shown a particular interest in.
TBR understands that Red Star are available for around £30m.
But how would a European outpost benefit Newcastle, the mothership of the would-be network.
“As far as the Newcastle owners are concerned, there are significant benefits to this model,” said Maguire.
“If you go via Europe, there are geographical benefits.
“It would allow the group to recruit European talent at the ages of 16 and 17, which you can no longer do as a result of Brexit.
“This would allow the club to dip their toe into the water to explore what works in terms of revenue synergies, cost synergies.
“Once they have trialled that, they can potentially expand the model further.”
- READ MORE NEWCASTLE NEWS: Newcastle to smash £80m barrier as new off-pitch announcement expected soon
PIF allies Aramco also looking for European takeover
As reported by ‘s Ben Jacobs, Aramco – the Saudi oil and gas giants chaired by PIF supremo Yasir Al-Rumayyan – are also on the lookout for a European club.
It is unclear if and how an Aramco-owned club would fit into Newcastle’s model, but that would perhaps create conflict-of-interest issues at UEFA level.
What’s more, the Premier League now requires clubs to disclose any interest, no matter how small, that a club owner or director has in another club anywhere in the world.
Incidentally, Aramco were once in the running for Newcastle’s front-of-shirt rights.
According to Maguire, an Aramco venture would likely slot into PIF’s multi-club ambitions.
And, with “bargains to be had” in France in particular, it is easy to see why Saudi Arabia’s biggest institutions are keen to enter the multi-club world at present.
“Aramco is a very successful company in terms of its current product line given that it is involved in petrochemicals,” said Maguire.
“It is, however, looking to expand its own brand. Also, as part of a much broader strategy undertaken by Mohamed Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia wants to diversify away from oil and gas.
“They want to be the leading hub for entertainment, including sport, globally. Building stronger links through the acquisition is one element of that overall strategy.
“Also, it is relatively cheap to buy a football club. It might cost you eight figures. The French market is distressed. We’ve seen the collapse of Bordeaux and the issues with the French TV deal.
“It was already the worst performing of the Big Five leagues in Europe even before these issues arose.
“If you put all those factors together, you have a lot of owners in France who are desperate to divest themselves of clubs as they are a drain on resources.
“There is not the same level of interest as there is in the Premier League.
“The Premier League has had first-mover advantage in terms of getting into lucrative international markets in Asia and the United States.
“French football has fallen far behind. You can buy a French club for next to nothing and you don’t have to spend that much money to be genuinely competitive. So there are bargains to be had.”
The role of Saudi Pro League clubs in Newcastle’s multi-club masterplan
As anyone with even a passing interest in football will be aware, PIF have invested billions in their own domestic football infrastructure in recent years.
Nearly £700m has been spent on new signings, with PIF either controlling or exerting considerable interest on most of the clubs in the Saudi Pro League.
As finance expert and former Man City advisor Stefan Borson recently observed, PIF have effectively been “bailing out” Newcastle’s rivals in the transfer market by paying huge sums for difficult-to-shift assets.
With that in mind, it is hard to say that Newcastle are in an entirely symbiotic multi-club model with PIF-owned clubs in Saudi – so how do the two arms of PIF’s football empire intersect?
“PIF’s influence in the Saudi Pro League has allowed them to set prices that are beneficial for clubs there, and that can therefore justify market prices,” suggested Maguire.
“There is no equivalent of regulations around associated party transactions like we have in the Premier League.
“That gives you the opportunity to trade with Newcastle. They aren’t alone in this – look at Watford and Udinese.
“Therefore, Newcastle can divest excess talent that is no longer required in the Premier League as it looks to build upward and challenge for Champions League places yet again.”