Newcastle in ‘bizarre’ position as ‘PIF fund rivals Tottenham, Chelsea, Man City’
Newcastle’s frustrating transfer window is seemingly being undermined by their owner’s larger sporting project.
When the Saudi Arabian Private Investment Fund (PIF) took over at St. James’ Park in 2021, there were expectations of huge transfer fees and a meteoric rise to the top of the Premier League.
Instead, a more slow-and-steady approach has been taken, in part due to the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR), which have curtailed the unfettered spending showcased by Chelsea and Man City when their respective owners took over.
Last season was the Magpies’ most successful since the takeover, and after several frugal transfer windows, the club looked well positioned to spend lavishly this summer.
However, Newcastle have been rebuffed by Joao Pedro, Bryan Mbeumo, and Hugo Ekitike, and whilst Eddie Howe’s side may aspire to be in competition with the Premier League’s big boys, the club are struggling to win transfer battles against their rivals.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, finance expert Stefan Borson highlighted Tottenham’s potential new stadium rights naming deal and the prize money that Chelsea and City had claimed from the Club World Cup as part of a “bizarre” situation the Magpies find themselves in.
All of that cash that Newcastle’s rivals have been using to bolster their squads this summer has come, or will come, from the PIF’s coffers, as they funded the CWC and look to be the most likely party to buy Spurs’ naming rights.
Newcastle without St. James’ naming rights
Borson told Football Insider that the worst part about the PIF funding Newcastle’s rivals was that St. James’ Park had been left without a naming rights deal.
The club have teetered on the verge of sanctions from the Premier League, and likely will receive one from UEFA next season, and yet the owners had not taken advantage of a naming rights deal to give the Magpies a cash boost.
Borson said: “I mean, it’s amazing in many ways that all it’s taken for Spurs to have a very upbeat feeling for coming into the season right now is one deal that’s actually happened for a West Ham player [Kudus] and a proposed deal for a Nottingham Forest player [Gibbs-White] that might not happen.
“Of course, they’ve changed manager, but you know, it seems all of a sudden that there’s momentum around even though nothing’s actually happened.
“I mean, this is a team that finished at the bottom of the table. They’ve got some very big challenges.
“Clearly, if it is a naming rights deal, and to be honest, we don’t actually know if it is. There’s a lot of speculation. But if it is a naming rights deal, why has it not been announced? And if it is coming from Saudi Arabia, that’s another completely bizarre situation where PIF sit underneath yet another deal that’s funding Newcastle’s competition, which is just bizarre.
“I mean, they’ve already got a situation where they’ve sunk the best part of the £100m into Chelsea over the summer.
“They’ve stuck £50m into City. They’re talking about potentially buying Nunez from Liverpool, which would be, let’s say, £70m. They’ve got this potential sponsorship deal here. They’ve also got a sponsorship deal with Atletico Madrid for their stadium.
“So I don’t know, it’s all very strange, you would have thought that they would have been focused first of all on sponsoring St. James’s Park or at least some other property around Newcastle, but that doesn’t seem to have happened.”
Newcastle push for Brentford ace Yoane Wissa
Elsewhere at St. James’ Park, the club are trying to get their window back on track and could be set to raid a Premier League rival.
Keith Wyness told Football Insider exclusively that Newcastle are pushing “extra hard” to sign Yoane Wissa.
After seemingly staving off interest from Liverpool in Alexander Isak, the Magpies are in need of more depth and attacking options.
Wissa scored 19 Premier League goals last season, but Newcastle will need to move quickly as the Congolese striker has interest from both Nottingham Forest and Tottenham.