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Meknes – Newcastle United has officially become the world’s wealthiest club after the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) purchased the English Premier League club from Mike Ashley following a 14-year tenure.
The PIF will fund a major portion of the 300 million pound buyout fee, given that the fund’s 320 billion euro fortune is nearly 11 times that of Manchester City’s Sheikh Mansour.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, a revered Saudi businessman who serves as the Governor of the PIF, will be the club’s executive president.
After news emerged of the deal between Mike Ashley and the PIF, Newcastle fans flocked to the streets to cheer Ashley’s departure. Many also appeared to especially celebrate the takeover by the Saudi PIF, hoping it will give the club a buying power similar to that of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, owned by Abu Dhabi and Qatar respectively.
The Premier League refused to approve PIF’s purchase of Newcastle United a year ago due to a dispute between Saudi Arabia and beIN Sports, which owns the television rights to Premier League matches. BeIN Sports had accusedSaudi Arabia of being behind a pirate broadcast that had been illegally transmitting English football games for years.
As part of the deal that greenlighted PIF purchase of Newcastle, the Premier League required – and obtained – legally enforceable assurances that Saudi Arabia would not be involved in the club’s management.
Newcastle are currently in nineteenth place in the Premier League table, with only three points from their first seven games.
After years of poor management and equally underwhelming sporting performances that reduced Newcastle’s league seasons to relegation battles, many expect the takeover by the PIF to instantly improve the club’s results with the purchase of star, world-class players.
