The Premier League announced in a statement that a group led by the Public Investment Fund in Saudi Arabia has acquired Newcastle United.
“Following the completion of the owners and managers’ test in the Premier League, the club has been sold to this alliance with immediate effect,” the statement added.
The original deal to buy Newcastle collapsed in July 2020 amid scrutiny by officials from the Premier League after it came under pressure to stop the deal due to concerns over the alleged piracy of television broadcasts in Saudi Arabia.
The piracy dispute involves the Qatari sports group “BEIN Sports”, which owns the rights to broadcast Premier League matches across the Middle East and is banned from operating in Saudi Arabia.
In turn, the Saudi Public Investment Fund confirmed that an investment group led by it has completed the acquisition of the ancient English club.
Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley said he had turned down a bigger offer than the one that had transferred the English Premier League club’s ownership to a Saudi-led group.
In an interview with The Sun, Ashley said: “I would like everyone to know that I have received a bigger offer to sell the club than I have accepted.
He explained: “But I feel that the offer we have accepted from the current new owners will better serve the interests of the club. Money was not the basis for me because sometimes I intervened financially in order to save Newcastle United and keep it going.”
Ashley added: “We made sure that wages were paid when we went down in the hope of going back and going up again. I was the happiest person when we went up again right after that.”
Ashley indicated that it was necessary to sell the club to ensure it could continue to compete at the top level.
