By Kieran Maguire

16th Jul, 2021 | 5:00pm

Maguire: Ashley 'convinced' by Premier League's 'green light to PiF' as rival Newcastle takeover bid rejected

Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley may have rebuffed John Textor’s takeover advances because he is convinced the PiF deal will get the “green light.”

That is according to finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider after the Athletic retrospectively reported Textor’s interest on 10th July.

It is claimed that the American digital media tycoon has been looking to buy an English club for over a year and held a concrete interest in Newcastle.

Textor’s interest reportedly went as far as depositing funds in an Escrow account earlier this year before Ashley had a change of heart over pressing ahead.

This site revealed in June that Newcastle are privately confident a Saudi-backed deal will be sanctioned once arbitration proceedings are complete.

And Maguire suggests that Ashley may have rejected Textor’s advances because the specifics of the PiF deal were more favourable.

“Mike Ashley’s focus is on the bottom line,” he told Football Insider correspondent Adam Williams.

“One can only presume that the offer that was coming in from PiF at the time exceeded John Textor’s in either the amount or the terms.

“By the ‘terms’, I mean how much will have been paid upfront and how much might have been in instalments.

“Perhaps Ashley had convinced himself that Premier League had given a green light to the PiF deal, which of course is still rumbling on.”

Ashley is currently fighting two legal cases regarding the PiF takeover which was blocked last year.

Arbitration proceedings are set to be concluded this month while he has also filed an anti-competition lawsuit against the Premier League.

In other news, pundit backs Premier League side to make £50million swoop for Newcastle United star.