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Saudis swoop for Newcastle

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund is in talks to buy Newcastle United from Mike Ashley, but other buyers are also in the frame. Amanda Staveley is once again involved: Talks with Saudis

The Wall Street Journal which broke the story referred to a purchase price in the region of £340m. They also suggested that the purchase could be completed in a matter of days.

Up to now, Saudi Arabia has not followed a strategy of investing in football clubs elsewhere in the world, but rather one of seeking to attract top clubs to play in their own country. In January 2020 they staged the Spanish Super Cup in Jeddah with Saudi Spain’s top four teams including Barcelona and Real Madrid taking part. This will earn the Spanish football federation €35m - €40m over three years.

However, it doesn't seem to have gone down too well with Spanish fans: Short shrift

However, it has been thought for some time that they might also follow other Gulf States in acquiring a top club. There have been persistent rumours that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wanted to buy Manchester United.

The lavish spending of the Gulf States reflects a battle for regional supremacy among them, exemplified by the tensions between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The soft power strategy has arguably been successful in giving the regimes a favourable profile through their involvement in the world’s most popular sport, distracting attention from complaints about the regime's human rights record. However, their involvement has also had a distorting effect on the competition between clubs which Uefa seems able to control to only a limited extent.

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