Let's hope so
Summer Transfer Window 25/26 *Sponsored by Bigpig*
- Thread starter Bigpig
- Start date
Ornstein and co reporting that Al Hilal are 'stepping up efforts' to sign Nunez. I joked about it earlier in the summer but it's slightly bonkers to think that Newcastle's owners are going to fund a big chunk of the fee that it'll take for us to sign Isak.
I dunno why people think this is mad.
They have two things in mind:
1. Grow the Saudi league
2. Make money from NUFC
They really don't care about us winning the league in the short term, this has been obvious for the past couple of years with PSR being an issue I don't think they quite understood at the point of the takeover.
I'm not sure making money from Newcastle is that important to them. In the grand scheme of things any increase in value of Newcastle is small potatoes to them. I think it's becoming clear that the Saudi League is a greater priority for them than Newcastle though and I don't think they mind having the PSR excuse to justify that. I know a number of Newcastle fans are starting to comment on the lack of movement with the stadium and training ground but even within PSR they're not flexing their muscles in the transfer market either. While lots of clubs are spreading payments over 2, 3 or even 4 years, the one thing Newcastle should be able to do is pay fees up front, making it much more expensive for others to rival them for players but you've not done that. Using Sesko and Utd as an example, if Newcastle stuck £60m cash on the table then you'd blow Utd out of the water or at the very least force them to pay £10m more in order for Leipzig to accept the money in 3-4 installments. Instead we're getting stories that payment terms are an issue with Newcastle's offer.
I'm not sure how reliable the story is and have yet to see anybody else report it but Adam Williams (a football finance journalist) wrote that as part of the Isak negotiations PIF want(ed) FSG to invest into the Saudi Pro League.
