Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund are a few steps away from becoming Newcastle United new owners with a £300 million takeover on the cards after Mike Ashley agreed to sell the club.
The Middle East consortium are set to own 80% of the Magpies, with 10% going to the Reuben Brothers while the remaining 10% will belong to PCP Capital Partners owner and finance broker Amanda Staveley.
She is expected to be involved in the day-to-day running of Newcastle and has been tipped to bring back erstwhile manager Rafa Benitez to St. James’ Park.
Many reports have claimed that the Spaniard is indeed wanted by the club’s would-be owners, but Spanish football expert Guillem Balague claims that they haven’t gotten in touch with Benitez.
“The rumours that have reached agent is that there will be money available and straight away as well. So they will be at the forefront of interesting signings. Who’s gonna go to Newcastle right now? I think the first decision will be to get a manager that can lead all that,” Balague said on his YouTube channel.
“By the way, I heard that Rafa Benitez hasn’t heard anything from the new owners or anything, so he’s miles away from what is happening. That’s the situation right now.”
Benitez left Newcastle last June following the expiration of his three-year contract after him and Ashley couldn’t agree to terms of a new deal, and he joined Chinese Super League’s Dalian Yifang the following month on a two-and-a-half-year deal.
Rafa arrived at SJP in March 2016 in a bid to help save them from going down.
He was unable to guide them to safety despite an impressive end to the campaign and he decided to remain with the club, eventually helping them back to the top-flight immediately by winning the Championship.
He helped keep the Toons up in the following two seasons and remains popular with the fans.
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