Newcastle owners in talks to land Santa Cruz - Report
According to reports in Brazil, Newcastle United's owners are in talks to add Serie D side Santa Cruz as part of their multi-club ownership model which has been rumoured for the last few years.
Santa Cruz, who currently play in the fourth division in Brazil, are open to being brought into the group by Newcastle, who certainly have the finances to do a deal with the backing of the Saudi PIF.
Our board have been fairly open about plans to expand and form a global brand, with the Man City model - often called the City Group - something we may be looking to replicate.
Having a club in Brazil would help massively in scouting and recruiting in young talent to academy, either to promote through to the first-team or sell for a profit and aid our PSR position.
It would be a great deal for both parties to create this alliance, ensuring the future of the Recife-based club while helping to grow Newcastle United as a football club and brand.
Staveley's previous comments
Speaking at a Bloomberg event in Jeddah back in March, former Newcastle co-owner Amanda Staveley previously offered an insight into the club's mutli-club model plans.
She admitted to being a ‘very big fan’ of the model that Man City have adopted so successfully, seeing the Premier League champions partner with 13 different clubs across France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, China, Japan, Australia, India, America, Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia.
At the event, Staveley said: “We very much are. Multi-club is part of football. It’s a real benefit to be able to have players and train players that aren’t part of your squad.
“The UEFA rules are changing so we have to see what emerges. The dynamics around whether we could have a club has changed dramatically over the last year.
“I’m still a very big fan of the multi-club model. A lot of other competitors and friends in the Premier League have multi-club relationships, but it has to be considered as a whole.”
She then revealed that the club have explored opportunities in Belgium, Australia, Brazil and Asia, with a focus on picking up top young players for our academy system:
“We have looked at Belgium, we have looked at a lot of European markets. We have looked in Asia, Australia, Brazil – pretty much everywhere. We have look at every market to see and getting players through our academy system and through that multi-club model would be very helpful in terms of allowing us to buy and have players part of our journey earlier on.”
Brazil were mentioned back then and it seems we may be looking in that part of the world several months later.
