The Athletic’s George Caulkin has issued a fresh claim about Newcastle United’s would-be owners after the club announced fresh contracts for two of its players on Thursday afternoon.
Both Javier Manquillo and Andy Carroll have received extensions past the current campaign, leading to fans thinking the worst about their prospective £300m takeover.
Where can Newcastle achieve in their first season under the Saudi's?
PL champions
Europe-bound
A cup win
Mid-table obscurity
However, according to Caulkin, the Saudi consortium have been ‘kept informed’ about all of the decisions the club is making while we await news from the Premier League.
In response to one fan on Twitter yesterday, he said:
I don’t think I’ve ever said that. The buyers have been kept informed about this kind of stuff, but the club has to keep ticking over, too. And Bruce has been concerned about losing players if they weren’t offered deals.
— George Caulkin (@GeorgeCaulkin) June 25, 2020
The top-flight have been conducting their owners and directors test for nearly 13 weeks. During that time, reports have surfaced putting the deal in doubt and now more recently, things have looked much more encouraging.
This is because the Saudi kingdom have announced their intentions to clamp down on pirate streaming services which broadcast sports events like the English Premier League to its customers.
It had been thought that this issue of piracy was a major obstacle and something that could ultimately block the deal from being approved, but with steps being made towards stopping that, it’s surely now time for an announcement.