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

The former striker at the St. James' Park faithful was a member of the Bellagraph Nova Group (BNG) who submitted an offer back in 2020 in order to try and buy the North East club after the initial breakdown of the deal between Mike Ashley and the KSA consortium.

However, the bid was reported to be much lower than the original asking price of the chief executive of Sports Direct, and so it collapsed.

Chopra, who was involved in an advisory capacity with the group, has since told FourFourTwo (via The Chronicle) that their £280m offer was 'genuine' but got no reply from Ashley's lawyer, labelling it as 'strange'.

He also dropped a very enticing claim on the proposed takeover of the Tyneside club by the KSA group, adding: 'There's more about the Saudi bid which hasn't come out yet'.

Does Chopra know something about the NUFC takeover?

Given that Chopra claims that he was 'aware of' the Saudis pulling out of their original deal with Ashley weeks before it was made in the public domain, there may well be something that he knows about the prospective bid by the KSA group that is lurking beneath the surface.

Nonetheless, the original deal is far from being able to be revived yet, as the Gulf country's Public Investment Fund (PIF) have not yet brought themselves back to the table, and the pending arbitration case between the Magpies and the Premier League needs to be completed in order to settle their legal disputes first.

In other news, find out what PIF claim a finance guru has dropped on the potential takeover here!