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Last night, while many fans and journalists alike were enjoying their 3 day weekends (Bank Holiday in the UK, Memorial Day in the States) news broke that the half brother of current Manchester City owner Sheik Mansour, Sheik Khaled has agreed in principal to purchase Newcastle United from Mike Ashley for a fee of £350million.
According to Craig Hope and Adam Craft of the Daily Mail, the takeover bombshell came from a close working associate of Khaled, bin Zayed Al Nehayan. This associate revealed to Sportsmail that a deal is ‘concluded’ between Mike Ashley and Sheik Khaled for the purchase of Newcastle united.
Khaled’s camp claims that the takeover should be done in time for this summer’s transfer window, and that keeping manager Rafa Benitez is a top priority. Additionally, the original journalist who broke the story, Justin Allen claims contracts from both parties have been signed and submitted to the Premier League
Sheik Khaled is a part of the very wealthy and controversial Al Nahyan ruling family of Abu Dhabi. His father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan was a founder of the United Arab Emirates, former ruler of Abu Dhabi and a former President of the UAE.
Khaled is currently valued at £18billion and recently tried to complete a £2billion takeover of Liverpool earlier this year. The takeover of Liverpool failed when Sheik Khaled failed to produce a 25m down payment and demonstrate proof of funds for the purchase. The effort was a joint bid between Khaled and a Chinese consortium.
BUT caution needed. As reported in August, same Sheik had a £2bn agreement in principle with Liverpool. His CEO met Tom Werner in NYC. But they failed to provide proof of funds or £25m deposit/downpayment. Tonight, however, they insist they have bought Newcastle. 2/2
— Adam Crafton (@AdamCrafton_) May 26, 2019
As it stands denials of the bid have not come to fruition from neither Newcastle or the Sheik Khaled’s. According to every journalist covering the club, club sources are politely declining to comment on the potential takeover bid. This polite declining to comment on a bid that seemingly came out of nowhere is giving journalists who frequently cover the club a little bit of hope as it is a much different reaction to any other takeover claim of recent.
It is important to note that talks of potential parties interested in taking over NUFC have been reported by Mark Douglas of the Chronicle. Douglas was even on record last week saying that there was a group that had reached the data room stage of negotiations with Mike Ashley.
This potential takeover in advanced stages also could be the reason Newcastle have been so slow to negotiate a deal with Rafa whilst being rumored to bid for multiple players in Europe.
A takeover by a person with the wealth of Khaled could result in a fresh deal for Rafa, a nice transfer kitty, improvements to St. James, and Newcastle potentially returning to Europe with enough funds to actually compete with some of the best teams in the world.
The suddenness of this news, and lack of denial from either side has fans and journalists alike feeling optimistic about this potential takeover rumor. As the day goes on, more information could potentially be revealed about the potential takeover. Be sure to turn on notifications for our Twitter @ComingHomeNUFC to receive all the latest updates on
In other news: Sunderland fans are having an awful holiday weekend.
The 9pm train back home has broken down after we were consigned to another year in League One and the Mags are being bought by an Arab Sheik. How’s your Sunday been?
— Roker Report (@RokerReport) May 26, 2019