Michael Chopra has revealed that he attempted to broker a meeting between Newcastle United and a Saudi outfit more than 18 months ago.
Saudi Public Investment Fund are poised to complete a £300 million takeover of the Magpies.
PIF and Mike Ashley agreed on a sale over two months ago but the Premier League are conducting a rigourous background check, amid allegations of broadcast piracy.
It’s been reported that the buying and selling parties remains confident that Newcastle will change hands in the near future.
But according to Chopra, this isn’t the first time that a Saudi group have been interesting in buying the St James’s Park club.
The 36-year-old former United striker, who began his career with the North-East club, has claimed to the Mouth of the Tyne podcast that he was fobbed off by Ashley’s lawyer in an attempt to reach out to him back in October 2018 about a potential buyer.
He said: “It goes back to October 2018 when I first contacted them about a group from Saudi wanting to purchase a Premier League club.
“I believed Newcastle would have been a perfect fit. I spoke to Mike Ashley’s lawyer, asked him for the mandate and necessary paperwork needed to go forward. Basically he told me to (go away) and told the Saudis to jump on a plane and go to see him.”
It remains to be seen whether it was Saudi PIF back then too, but it seems like it’d be a big coincidence if it wasn’t the same group.
This time, Amanda Staveley and the Reuben Brothers are the other parties involved in this deal.
They would own 20 percent of the club, while PIF would be in control of 80 percent.
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