Rules passed, Newcastle United can borrow 12 players from the Saudi Arabian League including Cristiano Ronaldo! Just for your information, since October 2021, Newcastle United has been taken over by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
PIF itself is owned by the prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman. Slowly, after being owned by PIF, The Magpies – Newcastle United’s nickname – became a dangerous team.
Last season or in the 2022-2023 Premier League, Newcastle United finished in fourth position and had the right to appear in the 2023-2024 Champions League. This season, Newcastle United is also still on track to finish in the top four of the Premier League.
Until the 12th week, Eddie Howe’s squad was in seventh position with 20 points, six points adrift of Tottenham Hotspur in fourth position or the final limit for teams appearing in the 2024-2025 Champions League. The opportunity for Newcastle United to go crazy in the second half of the season is very open.
Because, the Premier League as the operator of the English League competition has just allowed clubs like Newcastle United to borrow players from their sister clubs. Just so you know, PIF doesn’t only own Newcastle United.
PIF currently controls shares in four giant Saudi Arabian clubs, namely Al Ittihad, Al Nassr, Al Hilal and Al Ahly. Currently, many of the world’s top players are entrenched in these clubs.
Take for example Cristiano Ronaldo at Al Nassr, Neymar Jr (Al Hilal), Robert Firmino (Al Ahly) to Karim Benzema (Al Ittihad). In total, there are dozens of the world’s top footballers who play at these clubs.
Some Premier League clubs have asked the competition operator to prohibit Newcastle United from borrowing players from the clubs above. The Premier League, as the competition operator, also voted on the 20 clubs participating in the 2023-2024 English League.
A vote was made on whether it was mandatory to prohibit clubs from borrowing players from other clubs that have the same owner. As a result, there were only 13 clubs who wanted the new rules to be implemented.
After investigating, if there were only 13 clubs, this rule could not be implemented, because 14 votes were needed to pass the ban. As a result, Newcastle United is free from the ban and is allowed to borrow a number of top players from four Saudi Arabian League clubs in January 2024.
So, will Newcastle United borrow Cristiano Ronaldo from Al Nassr? So far the name Ruben Neves (Al Hilal) has been widely heard about being loaned to Newcastle United. The Magpies need Ruben Neves to replace Sandro Tonali who was involved in a gambling case.
