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Newcastle United: Matt Slater makes worrying takeover claim
Matt Slater has made a fairly worrying claim on the proposed £300m takeover of Newcastle United by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium.
The Athletic journalist was reacting to the news that the Premier League has extended its Middle East/North Africa (MENA) TV deal with the Qatari broadcaster beIN Sports until 2025.
Is the KSA takeover of Newcastle over?
Yes
No
Given that there are conflicts between the KSA and the English top flight about the illegal streaming of games in their country, added to the fact that beIN Sports is currently banned in the Kingdom, it certainly does not look great for the hopes of the KSA group reigniting their deal with Mike Ashley.
Slater thinks that the prospective bid may have to be stalled now unless the Saudis reinstate beIN and protect UK intellectual property, to which he tweeted: “Hard to see movement on NUFC until that happens”.
Huge vote of confidence for the PL, its stance on piracy & its commitment to regional deals. No carve-out for Saudi Arabia or Saudi bid for MENA rights. Clear signal to Saudis: reinstate beIN, protect UK intellectual property. Hard to see movement on NUFC until that happens. https://t.co/4Qjd11rru3
— Matt Slater (@mjshrimper) December 17, 2020
Does the KSA need to act now to push through the Newcastle takeover?
With this latest development regarding the extension of the MENA TV deal between England’s highest division and beIN Sports until 2025, it seems as if the KSA certainly now need to act fast if they are serious about the taking over of the Tyneside club in the North East.
An agreement will perhaps need to be reached to cut out piracy entirely in the Gulf country and strike a deal with both the league and beIN to show EPL matches legally, which could potentially kickstart a takeover revival.
In other news, find out which NUFC ace has blasted his team’s display versus Leeds here!
