But Blood Money Untied don't need the cash. Why would they sell to a rival?
There's a small matter of the profit and sustainability regulations.
Check out the Amazon documentary All Or Nothing. The blood money has been irrelevant. The club has had to work really hard to get talent like Isak and Gordon, players big clubs didn't want, at the cheapest possible price. They cost nothing compared to spending by the likes of Manchester United, never mind Manchester City.
It was also an exceptionally brave move to go with an unfancied but clearly brilliant English manager in Eddie Howe. They now buy young players and improve them. And Howe's success is as much about improving players Newcastle already had, than who he has signed. Joelinton, for example. Their academy talent is also scary good and absolutely vital now that being the richest club in the world is irrelevant.
The 6ft 2in midfielder who ‘doesn’t look 17, doesn’t act 17 and doesn’t play 17’ has stepped into Eddie Howe’s first team with aplomb
www.theguardian.com
As his cleverly disguised, beautifully weighted, pass created Alexander Isak’s opening goal against Chelsea a star was born. Fernández certainly failed to relish the renewal of his acquaintance with a midfielder who, as Howe puts it, “doesn’t look 17, doesn’t act 17 and doesn’t play 17”.
After another stellar performance during Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at the Parc des Princes – where Miley became the third-youngest Englishman after Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden to start a Champions League match – Paris Saint-Germain’s players are unlikely to disagree.
At best, Saudi money will provide Newcastle with a modern (i.e. suitable for fleecing corporate customers and tourists) football stadium to boost their profitability so they can better compete under the new rules.
It's not remotely necessary, since the wealth of Newcastle's fomer local owners had already built them the kind of large imposing stadium that looks and sounds awesome when you're giving the likes of Barcelona a spanking in the Champion's League:
Newcastle United FC 3-2 FC Barcelona"When you see how easy the three goals were for Faustino Asprilla you can only admire him," said Philippe Albert after this astonishing victory.
www.uefa.com
Newcastle United FC announced their arrival on European club football's biggest stage in dramatic fashion with a rousing 3-2 victory against FC Barcelona crowned by a Faustino Asprilla hat-trick.
Urged on by an animated St James's Park, alive to its first ever UEFA Champions League tie, Asprilla rattled off three goals inside the opening 47 minutes for a rampant Newcastle. It left Barcelona, boasting a star-studded lineup including Rivaldo, Luis Enrique and Luís Figo, in a state of shock but the Spanish titleholders threatened a late recovery in a grandstand finish.
Arsenal could probably get Lewis Miley for £150m. He's probably worth it already, to a club aiming for era defining dominance. And Newcastle would certainly be far more tempted by a pure profit of £150m rather than the net £90m if they sold Isak for £150m due to the current rules.
The scary reality for Arsenal is Newcastle don't currently need to sell either of them, and not because the club is awash with money. It's because the club is now awash with cost effective and well coached playing talent. As football should be. Take note Manchester. Both clubs! So a quick return to the Champion's League is on the cards. Two turns in three years is money in the bank, quite literally. And now there's so many more games to play in the new format.
All Arsenal can do now is blame the Puma ball for being too flighty for their players. The same ball Isak and Gordon managed to keep down once they'd breached the supposedly impenetrable centre back pairing of Arsenal. Although to be fair, during Newcastle's numerous attacks, they skied many a ball too.
Notably Jacob Murphy. Worthless until Eddie Howe was presented with the need to coach him up and let him loose, due to being unable to pay any price to buy a better right winger. The man he's keeping on the bench, Almiron, another player Howe inherited, had his best season under Howe too. Almiron was a transfer record signing for the club under the previous ownership.
With the exception of Joelinton, the top ten record Newcastle transfers have been under the Saudi ownership. But not one of them was of any interest to the top Premier League clubs. One of them was Chris Wood! A very expensive but highly necessary stop gap striker who was apparently better than maybe even Eddie Howe realised. Or maybe did realise?
Sandro Tonali is the only Saudi record signing that even comes close to looking like Newcastle using their wealth to buy a player from a genuinely top flight European club who didn't really want to sell. Now we know why they did....but funnily enough, Newcastle got no refund and were still obliged to pay his wages. So the Georide fans embraced him, and now he's on record (interview before the match) as feeling obliged to repay that loyalty by turning in displays that the likes of Arsenal just can't deal with. Literally.
I watched in absolute amazement when, at two nil down, needing a goal, all it took for six Arsenal players to sprint back toward their own goal in terror, was Tonali, Newcastle's deepest lying midfielder, finding himself with the ball as the furthest advanced Newcastle player. They were clearly terrified of the combination of his Pirlo-esque quarterbacking for a lightning quick front three of Murphy, Gordon and Isak.
Nouveaux rich Newcastle arguably would have been a complete flop had they simply went for a big name manager and the most expensive players, quickly rendering virtually their entire current team of Arsenal embarrassers entirely redundant.
Better to do sensible things, like go back to using Adidas as your kit supplier, evoking memories of those glorious nights of old and globally monetize the brand that is Newcastle (another amazing insight courtesy of the Amazon doc).
How did I get to see that Amazon doc? Took the one month free trial so that TNT Sport didn't get the financial reward of taking two Premier League match rounds. Because all that does is reward the likes of Arsenal.
Are you not entertained, Arteta? Evidently not! Although it's hard to tell with his permanent scowl.
