Journalist who broke takeover 'exclusive' confirms significant move by Mike Ashley & Saudi PIF
The Telegraph's Jason Burt - the man who broke the Sunday night 'exclusive' on a proposed takeover at Newcastle United - has shared further clarification on the current state of play.
Speaking on Twitter last night, the Telegraph's Chief Football Correspondent has confirmed that BOTH Newcastle United and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) submitted paperwork to the Premier League last week.
Burt also reveals that this was done last Tuesday (24th March), suggesting both Mike Ashley and the Saudi-based group are taking significant steps towards a potential takeover (not just the buying side).
Many will remain highly cautious, if not pessimistic, given the number of false dawns we've encountered over the past few years, but there's been more than one source of encouragement released by reliable reporters / papers over the past few days.
The BZG takeover was first reported by the Sun - say no more - where as this deal involving the Saudi PIF broke from the Wall Street Journal (one of the US' leading business papers) and has been validated by the Athletic's George Caulkin and senior football correspondents from both the Times (Martin Hardy and Matt Lawton) and the Telegraph (Jason Burt and Sam Wallace).
Mike Ashley is far too unpredictable to make us genuinely confident that a sale is happening this time around, but it certainly feels more likely and advanced than some of the previous 'attempts' we've bought into.
