Newcastle takeover: Finance minister appears to confirm new owners PIF are NOT independent from Saudi government

SAUDI ARABIA’S finance minister has blown a huge hole in the claims that Newcastle’s new owners are independent of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Premier League chiefs authorised the £300million takeover by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund after receiving ‘assurances’ the government would not control the club.

But that argument appeared to be invalidated by Mohammed Al-Jadaan, a close ally of MBS and the kingdom’s chief financial officer.

In an interview with CNBC, he initially insisted: “This is a PIF investment.”

But when asked about the decision by Prem clubs to draft new rules to temporarily prevent Toon from agreeing sponsorship deals with Saudi companies for above market value, Al-Jordaan seemed to admit to a closer link.

Al-Jordaan, a leading voice on the government’s Vision 2030 development strategy, said: “This is one investment among many.

“But if people are worried about competition among clubs, particularly now we have invested in one of them, I would say that is a good sign there is a potential serious competitor coming their way, which is good for the whole football community.

“We do sponsorship not only with clubs that we bought — we sponsor different clubs and different events.

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"There will be plenty of opportunities for sponsors and for clubs.”

Ex-Roma boss Paulo Fonseca is waiting to hear back from Newcastle after impressing in an interview to replace Steve Bruce.

But Lucien Favre, Eddie Howe, Steven Gerrard, Roberto Martinez and Frank Lampard all remain in the running.