Purslow: Newcastle may have to wait for takeover until summer

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Mike Ashley is looking to sell Newcastle United to financier Amanda Staveley.

Purslow (R) with Ian Ayre.

Former Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow has told Sky Sports that Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley may be made to wait until the summer to eventually sell the club.

Amanda Staveley is looking to take control of the club with her PCP Capital Partners, but had a bid of £300million reportedly rejected earlier this month with Ashley looking for closer to a fee of £400million.

Fans will be desperate to see a change upstairs before the winter transfer window on Tyneside, with Ashley seemingly unlikely to give manager Rafa Benitez the money needed to spend to keep the Toon in the top tier of English football.

Purslow, 53, remained at Anfield for just under two years after joining the club in June 2009, and believes any talk of a quick takeover to change the ownership prior to the January transfer window is premature.

Purslow also claimed Staveley is becoming concerned over the Toon’s closeness to relegation, stating that both parties are some way apart.

“Her (Staveley) view on value and Mike Ashley’s are some way apart but critically she is also starting to be concerned about relegation risk,” Purslow said.

“The more likely sequence of events, I am not saying it is impossible, is that buyers wait to see where Newcastle settle and once their Premier League fate is secure then a deal gets done by the end of the season.

“But the idea that a deal is going to happen in the next few weeks, let alone at levels that are way below what Mike Ashley’s asking price was, is fanciful. I think by the end of the season is when the club gets sold.”

Staveley will not have been impressed to see the Magpies lose five out of their last six Premier League outings, suffering defeats to the likes of Watford, Manchester United, Chelsea, Bournemouth and Burnley.

They now sit way down in 15th place and just five points above the Premier League relegation zone, with Benitez’s beleaguered, thin squad struggling to produce the quality required.

Benitez will be desperate to put a stop to his side’s abysmal form with a home win against Leicester City at St. James’ Park on Saturday afternoon.