Luke Edwards has dropped a quite damning arbitration claim on the potential takeover of Newcastle United, via Twitter.

The Daily Telegraph journalist has recently been reacting to a report from the Daily Mail that claimed that the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who was part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium looking to buy the St. James' Park faithful, urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to intervene in the deal between the group and Mike Ashley by correcting the Premier League's 'wrong conclusion' in terms of their decision to block the bid.

As relayed by the Daily Mirror, the Government have since denied that Mr Johnson intervened and that they were 'not involved at any point' in the takeover discussions.

Nonetheless, Edwards has since given his thoughts on his official Twitter page over the urging of MBS for the PM to intervene, tweeting that he thinks that it is a 'massive own goal' with regards to the pending arbitration case between the North East club and the top flight.

This is because he feels that it shows a connection between the KSA's Public Investment Fund (PIF), of which MBS is chairman of, and the Saudi state, one which the PL's Owners' and Directors' Test (ODT) condemns, as they want it to be shown that they are separate entities.

Newcastle takeover in danger?

Given the forcefulness of MBS to try and get the takeover pushed through, and his connection with PIF, of which he is chairman of, who were part of the KSA consortium, it could be difficult to prove that PIF and the Saudi state are separate entities.

If the top flight still believe the two parties are connected it would spell trouble for the potential bid, and as Edwards points out, MBS has done no one any favours in trying to disprove that by publicly getting involved.

Nonetheless, perhaps the arbitration hearing between the Tyneside club and the PL could yet throw up a positive result for the Magpies, meaning that a takeover should not be ruled out just yet.

In other news, find out what emails show a Premier League U-turn on a takeover decision here!