Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi were spotted rubbing shoulders with the new Chelsea owners at Stamford Bridge yesterday as Chelsea drew with Tottenham in a fiery London derby.
Speculation was rife across social media as everyone donned their spring-loaded boots and jumped to conclusions, however, David Ornstein of The Athletic has shed light on the situation.
The picture that ignited the imagination of Toon fans everywhere showed Mehrdad and Amanda talking to Behdad Eghbali, who holds a similar position to theirs at Chelsea. Staveley and Eghbali have been friends for years after both spoke at an event hosted by American economic think-tank the Milken Institute in 2019 titled Investing In Volatile Markets. So while it seems the meeting was more social than business-oriented, the potential for a good working relationship between the two newly taken over clubs is there.
Newcastle have been linked with several Chelsea players in this window; the likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi, Armando Broja, Conor Gallagher and Christian Pulisic have all been mentioned as potential targets, whether permanent or loan deals. There was even an attempt made by Newcastle to sign Timo Werner before he returned to RB Leipzig.
With a solid relationship in place, negotiations between the clubs should be much easier with both parties more likely to want to work out a mutually beneficial deal. Whether such things were discussed yesterday is unknown, but it can only be a positive thing going forward.
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