Danny Mills has dropped a quite big relegation claim on the potential takeover of Newcastle United by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) group.

Speaking to Football Insider, the former Leeds United and Manchester City defender thinks that any potential deal between Mike Ashley and the KSA consortium would "without a shadow of a doubt" rely on the St. James' Park faithful staying in the Premier League:

“I would say so, yes. Without a shadow of a doubt.

“It’s a completely different proposition buying a club in the Championship than it is in the Premier League.

“The whole money situation changes beyond belief. Literally at the blow of a whistle. When that final whistle goes at the end of the season, if Newcastle go down it changes everything, absolutely everything for potential investors.”

Newcastle survival is paramount

Steve Bruce's team must prioritise avoiding being relegated from the top flight down to the EFL Championship before any sort of takeover talk can even be considered at the end of the 2020/21 term.

If the worst were to happen in the North East, then it is very unlikely that the KSA's Public Investment Fund (PIF) would still be interested in a takeover, simply because of the money involved as Mills suggests.

Ashley would also be able to demand nowhere near the kind of money that he would have originally hoped for if the Tyneside club were to find themselves relegated, meaning that the chief executive of Sports Direct may suddenly be reluctant to sell.

Nonetheless, everything is all speculation at the moment until the fate of the Magpies is sealed come the end of the season, and then the picture will surely become a lot clearer.

In other news, find out what takeover claim from consortium sources has been dropped by Mark Douglas here!