Newcastle United chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan admits it is unlikely Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) will seek to buy other major European clubs following their purchase of the Magpies almost 12 months ago. However, the possibility of adding smaller sides to the portfolio doesn't seem to be off the table.
Prior to the Newcastle takeover, PIF were heavily tipped to invest in a swathe of outfits in other European leagues, none more so than Italian giants Inter Milan. All talk of adding another major side to the sovereign wealth fund's roster went quiet until earlier this week when Al-Rumayyan was quizzed directly on PIF's plans to expand their footballing arsenal away from the Premier League.
The PIF Governor admitted it was unlikely but did concede there was a possibility of a few smaller clubs being eyed in the future. "It is unlikely that we will invest in other European clubs," Al-Rumayyan admitted. "At most a few small clubs to increase our investments."
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Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners have enjoyed great success with their City Football Group (CFG) project, founded by the club's chief executive Ferran Soriano, which sees 10 clubs across five continents in the same footballing portfolio - with the majority shareholder being the Abu Dhabi United Group.
With feeder clubs in cities like Melbourne and Mumbai, CFG clubs often use similar badges and kit colour schemes to that of City's. Newcastle could easily replicate this sort of system in the future, with PIF investing in different clubs around the world and using them as feeder teams for the Magpies.
Soriano’s desire for an interconnected City Group is not a view that shared across the footballing world, with fans of CFG side NAC Breda protesting against being part of the group earlier this year. "They did not see the benefits that could come from it as worthwhile in exchange for, effectively, selling their soul," City report podcast host Amos Murphy told ChronicleLive.
Al-Rumayyan was also quizzed on the reasoning behind PIF's purchase of Newcastle and admitted it was a move that made financial sense given the other offers that presented themselves to the Saudi wealth fund in years gone by. The Magpies chairman admits one unnamed Premier League club offered 30 per cent of their club to PIF, in return for £700m of capital.
"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?"
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