Liverpool takeover stance provides reminder over £300m…

Liverpool takeover stance provides reminder over £300m Newcastle United bargain

With each passing day, the decision to purchase a majority stake in Newcastle United for a meagre £300m looks more and more like a shrewd piece of business. With the Magpies upsetting the Premier League apple cart at the first time of asking, and a city fully united, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund must be pleased with the deal they established little over 12 months ago.

£300m of course remains a significant fee but suddenly looks dwarfed when you realise Chelsea, who sit nine points behind Eddie Howe's side, recently changed hands for a whopping £4.25bn and now Liverpool looks to be available for the right price as well. That price, depending on which source you attribute, could be anywhere between £2.7bn and £4bn.

Forbes values the Merseyside outfit at £3.5bn and owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) won't be in the mood for bargaining or haggling given the global appeal Liverpool has established over decades. A host of wealthy individuals, hedge funds, corporations and more will fancy taking the reins at Anfield for that price.

Liverpool can offer potential buyers a lot of things that Newcastle can't, including established global appeal, European history and a manager who has won almost every trophy available to him over the years. However, it still feels a huge amount of money for a Premier League football club - and one who made need another transition period to get back to the very top.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund were interested in English football well before they purchased Newcastle, with Magpies chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan recently admitting the wealth fund could have purchased a smaller piece of the pie at a bigger club had they unloaded £700m for that very pleasure.

Speaking to Radio Eight, Al-Rumayyan said: "Before Newcastle we had offers from Italy, France and also the UK. One UK club offered us 30 per cent for £700m and without any management.

"Amanda Staveley brought Newcastle to us and said 'we like it so much, we would like it to be with you'. The Reuben family came and said 'we would like to be partners in the investment'. So they have skin in the game.

"We bought the team for £350m, compared to 30 per cent [of the unnamed club] which is £700m. Then you have Chelsea who sold for £3.5bn. So my aim now is to make Newcastle go from £350m to £3.5bn, that's 10 times the money. If we had bought Chelsea, for example, how much would it bring us in profit?"

Reports suggest Liverpool's owners do not plan to sell the Reds to any Gulf-backed bidders in the near future. Luckily PIF snapped up a club with huge potential for a snip of what FSG will be charging in the coming months.

Liverpool takeover stance provides reminder over £300m Newcastle United bargain

READ NEXT