Newcastle United’s takeover can be completed through a consortium from Saudi Arabia rather than the previously expected Chinese businesses, according to Simon Chadwick.
Simon Chadwick is a professor of sport enterprise at Salford University and coordinator of the Center for Sports Business and he believes that the potential new owners of Newcastle United could come from Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates.
Many had previously expected Chinese businesses to be the most likely new owners at Newcastle but Chadwick believes that they are unlikely to pay the full amount of Mike Ashley’s asking price which is believed to be around £300-400 million.
It had been revealed earlier this month that five parties have signed non-disclosure agreement with the club after Mike Ashley put the club up for sale and many had expected one of the parties to be Chinese businesses, who have recently shown an increasing interest in making investment in football.
However, the progress has been slow and it looks unlikely that that the takeover can be completed before the month of January.
